ill 




Pass BX,5^80 
Book «L-^5 . 



/ 



3fi r y 



THE AMERICAN CHURCH 



AND 



THE AMERICAN UNION 



LONDON 

PKINTED B? JSrOTIISWOODE AND CO. 

NEW-STKEET SQUARE 



THE 



AMERICAN CHURCH 



AND THE 



AMERICAN UNION 



BY 



HENBY CASWALL, M.A. 

D.D. OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CONNECTICUT : 

PBEBENDABY OE SABUM : TICAE OF FIGHELDEAN : 

AND LATE PEOCTOR IN CONVOCATION FOE THE DIOCESE OF SALISBUEY 




LONDON 
SAUNDEKS, OTLEY, AND CO. 

66 BROOK STREET, HANOVER SQUARE 
1861 



The right of Translation is reserved 



T D 



y G^ 5 



ij 



7 



7 



Preface. 




|HE Author of this work, though a native 
of England, removed to America in the 
year 1828, while yet in early life. 
Having received Holy Orders at the 
hands of an American bishop in 1831, 
he gained his clerical experience in various parts of 
the United States and Canada. At the same time he 
had the pleasure of forming the acquaintance of many 
persons eminent in Church and State, and of a large 
proportion of the writers whose works are quoted in the 
following pages. 

Eeturning to this country in 1842, he obtained a 
Private Act of Parliament removing the legal disabili- 
ties attached to his American Ordination, and during 
the last nineteen years has enjoyed many oppor- 
tunities of observing the operations of the Church 
at home. Although never an admirer of the political 
institutions of the United States, he has always felt 
an affectionate regard for the American Church, 



vi Preface. 

and rejoices in every occasion of making it favour- 
ably known in England. He has kept up a con- 
stant correspondence with his old friends beyond the 
Atlantic, and gladly welcomes them to his home when 
they visit the land of their ancestors. 

The publication of the present volume has been 
suggested by the difficulties now existing between the 
North and the South. For the personal narrative of 
the author, and for more definite information respecting 
the social and religious condition of the English race in 
the New World, the reader is referred to " America and 
the American Church;"* "The City of the Mormons;" f 
"The Prophet of the Nineteenth Century," f and "The 
Western World Eevisited." $ The last-mentioned book 
contains the narrative of a deputation on which the 
Author was sent with others to America in 1853, by 
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 
Foreign Parts. 



FlGHELDEAN : 

May 11, 1861. 



* Published by Mozley. 

f Eivingtons. 

\ J. H. and James Parker. 



Table of Contents. 



Chapter i. — The Church and the Colonies I 

Settlement of North America due to the Eeformation. — Early 
Colonial Charters. — Virginia and the Southern Group of Colonies. 
— Pennsylvania and the Middle Group. 



Chap. ii. — The Church and the Colonies — 

continued . . . 2,0 

Origin of Puritanism. — The Pilgrim Fathers. — Settlement of the 
Northern Group of Colonies. — Intolerance of the Puritans. — Blue 
Laws of Connecticut. — Persecution of Churchmen, Quakers, Baptists, 
&c. — Death of King Philip. — Prosperity of New England. — 
Witchcraft in Massachusetts. 



Chap. iii. — The Church and the Colonies — - 

continued .... £9 

Formation of the American Character. — Slavery. — Antipathy 
between North and South. — Eise of the Society for the Propagation 
of the Gospel. — Progress of the Church in New England. —Approach- 
ing Independence of the Colonies. — Hostilities in America. — Colonel 
Washington. — Congress of Albany. — Defeat of Braddock. — War 
with France. — Eeverses of the British — Their Final Success. — - 
Acquisition of Canada and the Valley of the Mississippi. 
a 



viii Table of Contents. 



Chap. iv. — The Church and the Colonies — 

concluded , . . QO 

English Plan for Taxing the Colonies. — The "Stamp Act" Con- 
gress. — Boston occupied by the King's Troops. — Progress of Dis- 
content. — Sermon of the Bishop of St. Asaph. — Canada propitiated. — ■ 
Congress at Philadelphia. — Battle of Lexington. — Congress peti* 
tions for Eedress. — Expedition to Canada. — Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. — Character and Progress of the Revolutionary War. — 
Surrender of Lord Cornwallis. — Acknowledgment of Independence. 
— Constitution of the United States. — Sufferings of the Loyal 
Clergy during the War. — Confiscation of Church Property and Ruin 
of the Churches. 



Chap. v. — The Church revived . .119 

Condition of the Church after the Revolution. — Denmark offers 
Lutheran Ordination. — Consecration of Bishop Seahury. — Forma- 
tion of the General Convention. — Admission of the Laity. — Re- 
vision of the Liturgy. — The " Proposed Book." — Remonstrance of 
the English Bishops. — Election and Consecration of Bishops White 
and Provoost. — Interview with George III. — Formation of the 
House of Bishops.— Final Adoption of the Prayer-book. 



Chap. vi. — Liturgical Revision . . 145 

Rule of the Church of England. — - The same Rule in America. — 
English Review of 1689. — Changes caused by the Revolution. — 
By a Desire to improve. — By Connection with Scotland. 



Chap. vii. — Ecclesiastical Arrangements 160 

Church Legislatures independent of the State. — Admission of the 
Laity. —Parochial Organisation. — Endowments. — Position of the 



Table of Contents. ix 

Clergyman. — Diocesan Organisation. — The Diocesan Convention. — 
The Standing Committee. — The Bishop. — Episcopal Maintenance. 
— Election of Bishops. — Ecclesiastical Courts. — Trial of Bishops. — 
The General Convention. — Vote by Orders. — Opening and Close of 
the Session. — Digest of the Canons. — Satisfactory Progress of ^ the 
Church. 



Chap. viii. — The Political Union . .182 

Continued Advance of the Country. — Extension of Territory. — 
The Successive Presidents. — Principal Events during each Presi- 
dent's Incumbency. — Dangers of the New Eepublie. — Want of a 
Definite Eeligion. — Defects in Education. — Decay of Authority. — 
Emigration. — Universal Suffrage. — Division of the Spoils. — Po- 
pular Oratory. — Licentiousness of the Press. — Slavery. — Progress 
of the United States notwithstanding the Dangers of the Union. — 
Growth of Abolitionism. — Election of President Lincoln. — Disso- 
lution of the Union. 



Chap. ix. — Church Extension . . 213 

Dr. Coke's Application for the Eeunion of the Methodists. — Pro- 
posal of the Bishops. — A Missionary Bishop desired. — Bishop Chase. 
— A Missionary Society founded. — Progress of the Older Dioceses, 
and of the Church at large. — Estimate of the Expenses of Divine 

"Worship, &c English Emigration. — General Convention at Eich- 

mond in 1859. — Sermon by Dr. Yinton. 



Chap. x. — The Church and other Societies 23J 

The " Memorial " in favour of Christian Union. — Opinions of various 

Dissenters in regard to the Increase of the Efficiency of the Church. 

Difficulties in the Way of an Acknowledgment of Dissenting Orders. 
— Eecommendations of the Commission on the Memorial. — Eeligious 
Census of the United States. — Effects of Unlimited Division. — 
Blessings of Union. — The Church a Fitting Centre of Unity. 



Table of Contents. 



Chap. xi. — The Church and Slavery . 259 

American Slavery an Inheritance. — Its Gradual Abolition arrested. — 
Evil Effects of Slavery on the White Population. — Relative Position 
of the African and American Negro. — Real Evils of Involuntary 
Servitude. — Scriptural Arguments used in the South in support of 
it. — Position of the American Church in reference to Slavery. — 
Opinion of English Divines. — Efforts of the Church in South Caro- 
lina, — The Bishops and their Slaves. — Abolitionism allied with In- 
fidelity. — Character of Southern Religion. — Secondary Slavery of 
the Free Negro. — Actual Demerits of Slavery. — Duty of the 
Church. 



Chap. xii. — Conclusion . . .284 

Our Early Opportunities in America. — Partial Failure of the Designs 
of Washington. — The Bishop of Vermont on the Conservative In- 
fluence of the Church. — Improbability of a Permanent Reunion of 
all the States. — Advantages of Separation. — Jefferson's Idea of 
the Divine Justice. — American Opinions of England and the 
Church of England. — Reaction in favour of the Church antici- 
pated. — Possible Alternative. — Prospects of America and of the 
Transatlantic Church. 



Appendix . . . . . . 301 

Increase of the Clergy compared with the Increase of the Popula- 
tion. — Abstract of Diocesan Reports and Episcopal Acts ; and Church 
Statistics.— Census of the United States. 



THE AMERICAN CHURCH 



AMERICAN UNION, 



CHAPTER I. 

THE CHURCH AND THE COLONIES. 

SETTLEMENT OF NORTH AMERICA DUE TO THE REFORMATION. EARLY 

COLONIAL CHARTERS. VIRGINIA AND THE SOUTHERN GROUP OF 

COLONIES. PENNSYLVANIA AND THE MIDDLE GROUP. 




OMMUNITY of origin and of language 
are among the strongest ties which can 
exist between nations. As Englishmen, 
therefore, it is impossible for us to avoid 
feeling an interest in a people so closely 
connected with us as those of the United States of North 
America. Notwithstanding diversities of government, 
of climate, and of geographical position, that people 
must still be regarded as the enterprising portion of 
ourselves, whose mission it has been to level the forests 
and cultivate the wildernesses of the West, and to ex- 
tend civilisation and religion from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific, from the Great Lakes to the Grulf of Mexico. 



The Church and the Colonies, 



In proportion too as we identify ourselves with the 
system of Christianity which grew out of the English 
Beformation, we shall be interested in tracing the for- 
tunes of that branch of the Anglican Church which has 
now existed more than two centuries and a half in the 
New World. We shall notice its advancement from 
small beginnings, in the midst of formidable difficulties ; 
we shall sympathise with it in its calamities ; and we 
shall rejoice in the present wide diffusion of principles 
which we believe to be identical with primitive truth. 
Eemembering that the population of the United States 
already exceeds thirty-two millions ; that it embraces the 
largest English-speaking community in the world ; that 
it doubles itself usually within a quarter of a century, 
and that its future influence on mankind, for good or 
evil, must be of the most important character — we shall 
heartily desire that the trials of the great republic, what- 
ever they may be, may conduce to the permanent esta- 
blishment of all that is safe, sound, and ennobling in 
politics and in religion. 

North America was made known to the English at 
the close of the fifteenth century. Two Venetian 
mariners, John Cabot and his more celebrated son 
Sebastian, were authorised by Henry VII. to undertake 
new discoveries, towards which the king contributed 
the expense of fitting one ship at Bristol, while the 
merchants of that city and London added three or four 
small vessels, freighted with suitable commodities. On 
the 24th of June, 1497, they discovered Newfoundland, 
whence they sailed down to Cape Florida : being the 



The English Reformation. 3 

first Davigators who had seen the great continent of the 
West. No settlement, however, was attempted ; and it 
is probable that the English government religiously 
respected the Papal grant which assigned to the 
Spaniards the lands lying above a hundred leagues 
westward of the Azores. 

The settlement of the English race in America is 
mainly due to our great religious movement of the six- 
teenth century. In that century our Church took its 
present form : not by the substitution of a new society 
in place of an older one, but chiefly by the removal 
from its own system of certain additions to the faith 
made during the last thousand years. The clergy being 
represented by the Convocation, and the laity by the 
Sovereign and the Parliament, the piety, the learning, 
the good sense and the power of the nation were brought 
to bear on the great religious questions of the age. 
Under God, we thus retained the ancient landmarks of 
doctrine, discipline and worship, and rejected the modes 
of association and belief which appeared to be un- 
authorised by the original documents of Christianity. 
We retained the Episcopate, the Creeds, and Litur- 
gical worship, while we rejected Purgatory, Images, and 
Transubstantiation, and cast off our allegiance to the 
Pope. Having done this, we felt no scruple in form- 
ing colonies in those wide and productive regions on 
which the eye of English enterprise had already fixed 
itself. Our national life had acquired new vigour in 
that age of theological inquiry and geographical dis- 
covery, and with the ascendancy of the Reformation, 

b 2 



The Church and the Colonies. 



England began to lay the foundation of her maritime 
superiority. 

The great navigators of the time of Elizabeth, full 
of courage and the spirit of romance, ventured upon 
the wide and stormy Atlantic in vessels so small that at 
the present day they would be deemed hardly suitable 
to a voyage across the Channel. Their main objects 
were the discovery of gold and of a North-West passage 
to Eastern Asia. Under a patent obtained by Kaleigh, 
two vessels sailed in 1584, and arrived at the country 
now known as Carolina, but which, together with the 
entire coast from the thirty-fourth to the forty-fifth 
degree of latitude, was named by the queen, Virginia, 
as a record of herself. The vegetation of that southern 
clime struck the beholders with admiration ; and the 
Indians showed kindness and gave a friendly welcome 
to the English. In the following year a larger expe- 
dition was sent forth. The adventurers landed on the 
island of Eoanoke, but the settlement proved unsuccess- 
ful. The capital of North Carolina now bears the name 
of Ealeigh, in honour of the brave but unfortunate 
adventurer; and the potato and tobacco were among 
the first gifts of America to Europe. 

James I. favoured the designs of those active men 
who aimed at the enlargement of his dominions, and 
with that view divided Virginia into two districts, called 
respectively North and South Virginia. The king 
formed two companies for planting colonies within their 
limits. He granted the southern district to a com- 
pany resident in London, denominated the London 



Settlement of Virg 



ima. 



Company ; and the northern to an association of mer- 
chants and others in the west of England, known as the 
Plymouth Company. The present States of Virginia 
and North Carolina were comprised within the limits 
of South Virginia, while Northern Virginia embraced 
New England, so named by Prince Charles, afterwards 
Charles I. The superintendence of the whole colonial 
system was confided to a council in England appointed 
by the king; while the local administration of each 
colony was intrusted to a council residing within its 
limits, to be named by the council in England. 

The principles of popular liberty had already made 
great progress in the mother-country ; and generally, as 
the colonies came into being, they were chartered as 
bodies politic and corporate, with the privileges of the 
most favoured corporations at home.* It was long 
before they ceased to be considered otherwise than as 
trading associations, entitled indeed to make their own 
bye-laws, but not constituting a government distinct 
from that of the mother-country. It was taken for 
granted, if not specially ordered, that the religion of 
the colony was to be that of the Church of England. 
Kindness to the aboriginal tribes was enjoined, with the 
use of all proper means for their conversion. 

It was in May, 1607, that the newly reformed wor- 
ship of our Church was first heard on the banks of that 
noble Virginian stream, denominated, after the reigning 
monarch, James Eiver. The emigrants had found a 

*• New York Eeview, 1838. 
B 3 



The Church and the Colonies. 



delightful country, which seemed to them an earthly- 
paradise, abounding in beautiful mountains and valleys, 
and in productive land. As members of the English 
establishment they had been required by their sovereign 
to provide for the preaching of the Grospel among 
themselves and the neighbouring Indians. They were 
accompanied by Eobert Hunt, a wise and pious clergy- 
man, and soon, among their own hastily constructed 
huts, they erected a temporary building for the per- 
formance of Divine worship. This frail edifice even- 
tually gave place to a more durable church, the ruins 
of which may yet be seen on the deserted site of James- 
town. 

Notwithstanding this auspicious beginning, the early 
years of the colony of Virginia abounded in misery and 
discouragement. The settlers had left England with 
expectations of great and speedy gains, and the labour 
of felling the woods appeared enormous to a party con- 
sisting rather of broken gentlemen, tradesmen and 
serving-men, than of hardy and industrious labourers. 
Many of their number were killed by the Indians, and 
many died of disease. In 1610, the few who survived 
had resolved on returning to England, when the oppor- 
tune arrival of reinforcements under the new captain- 
general, Lord De La Warr, changed their plans, and 
induced them to remain. In the course of a few years 
the Jamestown settlement had sent forth vigorous off- 
shoots into the neighbouring districts, in which churches 
were built and ministers stationed. 

In 1613, Powhatan, the chief of the surround- 



The Assembly of Virginia. 



ing Indians, became the fast friend of the colonists, 
through the marriage of his daughter, Pocahontas, with 
John Rolfe, one of the settlers ; a connection to which 
some of the best Virginian families trace their origin. 

The English were now determined to establish an 
exclusive right of territory up to the forty-fifth degree 
of latitude, and accordingly Captain Argall was sent 
from Virginia with a naval force against the French 
settlements commenced in Acadia, now Nova Scotia. 
He succeeded, for the time, in enforcing the English 
claim, and on his return visited, with the same object, 
the new Dutch trading establishment within the present 
port of New York. 

Thus far the colony had been governed by martial 
law, which was vigorously administered by Argall as 
deputy-governor, but, in consequence of the complaints 
of the people, a new governor was sent out in 1619. 
An Assembly was now constituted, composed of the 
governor, his council, and two representatives from each 
of the boroughs. At its first meeting, this legislature 
fixed the payment of the clergy at 200L annually in 
maize and tobacco, the principal articles of their pro- 
duce. A hundred acres in every borough were set 
apart as glebes, and application was made to the Bishop 
of London for a supply of " pious, learned, and painful 
ministers ; " (i a charitable work," says the Bishop of 
Oxford, " in which he readily engaged." The people of 
England and the Virginia Company itself showed a 
commendable zeal for the firm establishment of religion 
in this new dominion. Money was freely given for 

B 4 



8 The Church and the Colonies. 

founding a college, building churches, and supplying 
them with communion-plate. The colonists were es- 
pecially urged by the Company to educate well-disposed 
Indians, so that they might become instruments in the 
conversion of their countrymen. The general treat- 
ment of the aboriginal race was mild and friendly, 
contrasting favourably with that which was afterwards 
adopted in the northern colonies. Jealousies, however, 
arose, and the savages concerted a plot to murder the 
colonists, which so far succeeded, that only eighteen 
hundred survived out of nearly three thousand. The 
loss was soon made up by emigration from England, 
but a spirit of deadly hostility had arisen on the part of 
the white men towards the Indians, and the former 
purposes of mercy were apparently forgotten. 

In 1624, the Virginia Assembly provided "that there 
should be an uniformity in the Church as near as might 
be to the Canons of the Church of England, and that 
all persons should yield a ready obedience to them upon 
pain of censure." It also required that a burial-ground 
should be enclosed, and a house or room set apart for 
divine service in every plantation, and declared that 
every colonist should attend public worship, under a 
penalty. 

The great mistake was that the authorities of that 
age did not see the importance of supplying a young 
colony like Virginia with the oversight of a Bishop of 
its own. Had Virginia in the seventeenth century com- 
menced her career like British Columbia in the nine- 
teenth, under the Christian guidance of a conscientious 



Want of Bishops. 



and energetic spiritual ruler, the course of events might 
have been far happier than it proved in fact. In the 
absence of a chief pastor, the clergy were almost inde- 
pendent of all ecclesiastical rule, and cases of delinquency 
among them were not met by needful discipline. 
Young men who desired to become ministers of Christ, 
were obliged to undertake a perilous and expensive 
voyage to England in search of ordination. The Con- 
firmation of the young, with all its great advantages 
when rightly undertaken and performed, was utterly 
unknown. And, finally, the people, equally with the 
clergy, suffered from the want of that stimulus to good 
works which the presence of a really good Bishop is 
found to supply. 

In many respects, however, the Church in Virginia, 
such as it was, worked decidedly well. It is certain 
that religious affairs were administered with mildness, 
and with a freedom from fanaticism which differed 
widely from the temper of the North. In 1624, the 
Crown resumed its grant, and Virginia became a royal 
colony, in which new character it was conspicuous for 
its attachment to the King as well as to the Church. 
When the great rebellion commenced in Ed gland, 
Virginia continued loyal, and many of the expatriated 
cavaliers fled to it as a refuge in which they were 
certain to meet with sympathy. Even when obliged 
to succumb to Cromwell's arms, the colony stipu- 
lated for the use of the Book of Common *Prayer for 
one year ensuing, for the continuance of ministers 
in their places, and for the payment of their accus- 



io The Church and the Colonies. 

tomed dues and agreements. Sixteen months before 
the Eestoration in England, Charles II. was proclaimed 
in Virginia, and among the earliest business brought 
before the colonial legislature was the revival of the 
Church, ten clergymen alone remaining at the close of 
the Commonwealth. Provision was accordingly made 
for the building and due furniture of churches ; for the 
canonical performance of the Liturgy ; for the minis- 
tration of Grod's word ; for a due observance of Sunday ; 
and for the baptism and Christian instruction of the 
young. 

Although the religion of the country was thus 
restored, the people were alarmed by new restrictions 
on their trade, by which Parliament sought to promote 
the interests of English commerce and navigation. A 
duty of five per cent, was charged on all merchandise 
exported from or imported into any dominions of the 
crown. Soon afterwards came the Navigation Act of 
Charles II., by which it was decreed that no merchandise 
should be imported into the plantations but in English 
vessels, navigated by Englishmen. On the other hand, 
tobacco, and other staple articles of American pro- 
duce, were to be sent exclusively to England. The 
Assembly remonstrated in vain against these enact- 
ments, and in 1676 a rebellion broke out, headed 
by one Bacon. The governor, Berkeley, notwith- 
standing the popularity which he had enjoyed, was 
unable to maintain tranquillity, and fled to a distant 
part of the colony, where he collected some forces. 
Jamestown was burnt, and both parties laid waste 



Settlement of Maryland. 1 1 

whole districts as it served their purposes. The death 
of Bacon occasioned the dissolution of his faction, when 
severe punishments were inflicted on the ringleaders, and 
the body of the insurgents submitted to the governor 
on condition of receiving a free pardon. Under the suc- 
ceeding administration, peace was concluded with the 
hostile Indians, and wealth and population rapidly 
increased. At the time of the Eevolution in 1688, 
which placed William and Mary on the throne of 
England, the number of inhabitants amounted to sixty 
thousand. 

Having thus dwelt at some length on the early his- 
tory of Virginia, we may now briefly consider the 
remaining members of the group of southern colonies. 
As Virginia had been named from Queen Elizabeth, 
so Maryland, formerly a part of Virginia, derived its ap- 
pellation from Henrietta Maria, the queen of Charles I. 
It was granted by that king in 1632 to Sir Greorge 
Calvert, afterwards Lord Baltimore, to whom, though 
a " popish recusant," was intrusted the licence to found 
churches according to the ecclesiastical laws of England. 
The first successful settlement was made by about two 
hundred gentlemen of rank and fortune, chiefly Eo- 
manists, who landed on the Potomac Eiver in 1633. The 
Eoman Catholics claim that the "rights of conscience 
were first fully recognised in Maryland."* In 1635 
the primary Assembly was convened, and in 1639 the 
people secured for themselves the tranquil exercise of 

* Coit's Puritanism, p, 2L 



\Z The Church and the Colonies. 

the Roman Catholic religion. Trinitarians alone were 
tolerated by the Constitution, and in 1649 a law 
was passed mulcting all who should speak reproach- 
fully against the Blessed Virgin or the Apostles. But 
the rapid growth of the Church of England in this 
colony effectually prevented any lasting predominance 
on the part of the Eomanists. 

In Maryland, as in Virginia, there were Indian hos- 
tilities and a rebellion, during which the governor fled. 
While the power of Cromwell continued, Eomanism 
was placed under legal disabilities ; but at the Restora- 
tion a tolerant government was again established, and 
Huguenots from France, and various sects from Hol- 
land, Sweden, and Finland, found protection in the 
colony. Lord Baltimore died in 1675, after a supre- 
macy of more than forty-three years, and the commer- 
cial metropolis of Maryland commemorates his name. 
The proprietary government did not, however, satisfy 
the people. It was accused of favouring Popery : a 
Protestant ascendancy was determined upon in England, 
and, in 1691, King William constituted Maryland a 
royal province. 

In 1702, a law was passed by the Maryland Legisla- 
ture, which provided that every congregation and place 
of worship, according to the usage of the Church of 
England, was to be deemed a part of the Established 
Church. Every minister presented, inducted or ap- 
pointed by the governor, was to receive forty pounds 
of tobacco per poll, to be collected by the sheriff. 
The English acts of toleration were extended to Quakers 



Settlement of Carolina. 13 

and Protestant dissenters, under certain regulations ; 
but Eoman Catholics were excepted from an indulgence 
of which in America they had been the first to show 
an example. 

Carolina was named from our Charles I., or perhaps 
still earlier, from Charles IX. of France, under whom a 
settlement of French Protestants was attempted on this 
coast. It was originally a single province, the separa- 
tion into North and South not being effected before 
1728. No permanent settlement was made in Carolina 
until after the Eestoration, the charter to the Earl of 
Clarendon, and seven others, being granted in 1663. 
The proprietors claimed all the country now comprised 
in the two Carolinas and Georgia, and extending west- 
ward to the Pacific Ocean. They commissioned Berkeley, 
the Governor of Virginia, to establish a government 
over this territory, and accordingly he visited the 
colony, instituted a General Assembly, and appointed 
a Governor. They also engaged the celebrated Mr. 
Locke to frame for them a constitution and a body of 
laws, which should be worthy of enduring through all 
ages. This curious scheme, then considered a masterpiece 
of statesmanship, attempted to connect hereditary wealth 
and political power, so as to secure the people against 
the republican tendencies which already showed them- 
selves in other colonies. But the philosopher's model of 
an aristocratic state, with its orders of nobility and gra- 
duated rank, did not comport with the humble settle- 
ments of a new country, and it was never brought into 
successful action. By its ninety-sixth article it was 



1 4 The Church and the Colonies. 

declared that " the religion of the Church of England, 
being the only true and orthodox, and the national 
religion of all the king's dominions, was also that of 
Carolina." The public maintenance of the clergy was 
to be provided by the Legislature, and indulgence to 
form congregations was accorded to all. The charter 
gave to the Earl of Clarendon and others the right of 
patronage, and the advowson of all churches, chapels, 
and oratories, dedicated according to the ecclesiastical 
law of England. In 1682, St. Philip's Church was 
erected at Charleston, the capital of the colony, and 
in 1704, parishes were established and endowed by the 
Assembly. The planters built churches at their own 
expense, and sometimes provided glebes and parson- 
ages. 

The settlement of Georgia was projected in England 
as late as 1732, with a view to the accommodation of 
poor people in Great Britain and Ireland, and for the 
further security of Carolina. The benevolent James 
Oglethorpe and others proposed to raise a fund for 
conveying poor debtors, petty criminals, and other 
indigent emigrants, to this part of America free of 
expence. Their generous project was encouraged by a 
grant from Parliament and by letters-patent from 
George II., in honour of whom the new province re- 
ceived its name. A corporation was formed for settling 
the colony, and Savannah was founded by Oglethorpe 
himself, who, with a hundred and twenty emigrants, 
arrived there in 1733. Two years afterwards, Darien 
was settled by a company of Highlanders, and in 1736, 



Settlement of Georgia. ig 

Oglethorpe, who had returned to England, brought 
over with him three hundred additional emigrants. 
They were accompanied by the celebrated John Wesley, 
then a missionary of the Society for Propagating the 
Grospel, who, after remaining nearly two years in 
America, returned to England. After Wesley left 
Greorgia, the almost equally well-known George Whit- 
field arrived in the colony. He travelled through the 
American settlements soliciting subscriptions for the 
establishment and maintenance of an Orphan House 
in Savannah, which is still in existence. 

The persecuted Protestants on the continent of 
Europe had been offered an asylum in Greorgia, and 
many accepted the offer. A large number of Moravians 
came over, and built a village, which they called 
Ebenezer. When, in 1738, it was proposed to intro- 
duce negro slavery, as in the other colonies, Oglethorpe 
opposed the measure, as being contrary to the Grospel, 
and to the fundamental laws of England. The Mora- 
vians demonstrated that " whites " could labour in that 
southern climate, and the value of the raw silk raised 
by them soon amounted to 10,000£. a year. It was also 
said that the introduction of slaves would starve the 
poor labourers for whose sake the colony was founded. 
In 1743, Oglethorpe gave up his connection with the 
colony. Slavery was then introduced, and even the 
Moravians agreed with Whitfield in thinking that 
slaves " might be employed in a Christian spirit." * In 

* M. Murray, p. 175. 



1 6 The Church and the Colonies. 

1752, the trustees of Georgia surrendered their charter 
to the king, and the settlement became a royal colony, 
after which it advanced rapidly in wealth and popula- 
tion. 

The Southern Colonies ultimately presented, on the 
whole, a uniform aspect in reference to their social 
condition. From an early time slavery existed among 
them, and in the first instance, the slavery of white 
men, not only criminals, but emigrants and political 
prisoners. Conditional servitude, under covenants, had 
been coeval with the first settlement of Virginia. The 
poor emigrant was bound to render to his American 
employer the full cost of his transportation. This led 
to a species of traffic in those who could be persuaded 
to embark. The speculation proved so lucrative that 
numbers soon took part in it, since men might be 
imported at a cost of eight pounds, who could after- 
wards be sold in the colony for forty. So established 
became this evil, that white men were purchased on 
shipboard as horses are purchased at a fair. This, 
under the rule of the Commonwealth, was the fate of 
the royalist prisoners of the battle of Worcester.* 

But white slaves could not be had in sufficient 
abundance to bring into cultivation the wide tracts of 
the south adapted to the cultivation of tobacco, rice, 
sugar, and cotton. In the summer of 1620, a Dutch 
man-of-war sailed up James Eiver, and landed twenty 
negroes, who found ready purchasers. For some time 

* Bancroft, i. p. 175 



Africa?! Slavery. ly 

this new trade continued chiefly in the hands of the 
Dutch, though discouraged by the laws of Virginia. 
But the blame does not rest in any especial manner on 
the people of Holland. Considerations of pecuniary gain 
prevailed with us over the dictates of justice, and it was 
resolved by England that her colonial possessions should 
be cultivated by the people of Africa. In carrying this 
bold design into effect, religion was forced into alliance 
with avarice, and the convenient principle was enun- 
ciated that Christians possessed the right to reduce the 
unbaptized to slavery, with a view to the propagation 
of the faith. The expedient of African servitude, thus 
devised and supported, rapidly gained favour, and 
negroes soon became a most profitable item of Christian 
commerce. Although Maryland, Virginia, and Carolina 
early took alarm at the dangerous increase of the 
African population, and passed laws restricting the 
importation of negroes *, companies were constantly 
forming in England for the furtherance of the nefarious 
traffic. Finally, by the treaty of Utrecht, England 
engaged to act the part of a slasre-mer chant to the 
other nations of Christendom. This treaty, ratified 
under Queen Anne, bound us to import into the western 
world 144,000 negroes, in the course of thirty years, 
over and above the "assortments" of the ordinary 
merchants. It is calculated that during the century 
previous to the American Eevolution, we did, in fact, 
import into America and the West Indies nearly three 

* Bancroft, iii. 410. 
C 



1 8 The Church and the Colonies. 

millions, besides a quarter of a million purchased in 
Africa, and thrown into the Atlantic on the passage.* 
In the southern colonies, therefore, there was com- 
paratively little social equality, and the means of 
general education having been but scantily provided, 
the inhabitants, to a great extent, had lost the sense of 
its necessity. Nearly half the population, and, in some 
districts, more than half, consisted, at an early period, 
of negro slaves. There was also a large body of white 
slaves, or indented servants, and their descendants. In 
the back settlements of the Carolinas and subsequently 
in Georgia, there was a greater mixture of races than in 
Virginia, a large proportion of the people being recent 
immigrants, not only from England, but from Ireland, 
Scotland, Switzerland, and Germany. In their religious 
ideas and establishments these southern colonies differed 
greatly from the others f : the Church of England being, 
with few exceptions, the Church of the people. The 
Koman Catholics of Maryland were but a handful, 
certainly not more than an eighth of the population ; 
the Dissenters, once numerous in the Carolinas, con- 
formed more or less to the Establishment; and, per- 
haps, in no part of the British dominions were the 
doctrines and discipline of the Church more generally 
acquiesced in than in Virginia. Not that there was any 
special Church zeal, for there was little or nothing to 
call it forth ; but there was a general spirit of acqui- 
escence, undisturbed by doubts or questionings, such as 

* Bancroft, iii. 412. f Church Review, Jan. 1852. 



The Middle Colonies. ig 

perhaps cannot readily be pointed out elsewhere. The 
Virginians, at the head of the slave colonies, had a landed 
gentry, who maintained, as far as possible, the usages 
of English society. But, on the whole, the people 
lived in the simplicity which naturally pervades the 
habitations in the wilderness. In 1671, a royal gover- 
nor said, "I thank Grod there are no free schools nor 
printers, and I hope we shall not have them these 
hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience 
and misery and sects into the world, and printing has 
divulged them and libels against the best government. 
God keep us from both ! " Travelling was performed 
by water, or on horseback through winding paths in the 
forest. There were no bridges, and rivers had to be 
crossed by fording, or by swimming. The houses were 
generally built of logs, and often with mere shutters to 
close the windows instead of glass. A collection of 
habitations in Virginia was rarely to be seen in the early 
times ; and Jamestown had but a church, a court-house, 
and eighteen buildings. At this period, the people, 
being widely scattered, rarely met in large numbers, 
except for public worship. 

The group of middle colonies, New York, New 
Jersey, and Pennsylvania, which then included Dela- 
ware, are next to be considered. 

Manhattan Island, on which New York now stands, 
and the spacious bay adjoining, were discovered in 
1609 by Henry Hudson, an Englishman in the employ 
of the Dutch East-India Company. Advancing up the 
river, now known by his name, he passed through the 

c 2 



20 The Church and the Colonies. 

magnificent scenery of the Highlands, and sent forward 
a small boat as high as the spot where Albany now 
stands. This region was claimed by the Dutch as the 
discoverers, and, in 1614, they commenced a trading 
establishment on Manhattan Island, and another at 
the highest point attained by Hudson on the river. 
In 1627, the Dutch settlers proposed a treaty of friend- 
ship with the Pilgrims of the Plymouth colony, but 
their deputies, though well received, were informed, as 
Argall had already informed them, that the English had 
prior claims to the country on the Hudson. After this, 
they came in collision with the Massachusetts settlers, 
who had secured possession of their discoveries on the 
Connecticut. They had difficulty also in subduing the 
Swedes and Finns, who, under the protection of the 
Swedish government, had settled in the territory 
claimed by Holland, then known as New Sweden, 
and now constituting the State of Delaware, so named 
from the great river which commemorates the adven- 
turous Lord De La Warr. They had bloody battles 
with the Indians, and might have been annihilated, 
but for the mediation of Eoger Williams, the founder 
of the Ehode .Island settlement. They continued, 
however, to gain ground as a colony of Holland, until, 
in 1664, Charles II. determining to enforce the En- 
glish claim, granted to his brother, the Duke of York, 
the whole territory from the Connecticut River to the 
Delaware. An English fleet accordingly proceeded 
to Manhattan Island, and the Dutch governor, finding 
resistance useless, consented to a capitulation. The 



Settlement of New York. 2,1 

settlement on the island, previously called New Am- 
sterdam, was henceforth known as New York, while 
the settlement one hundred and sixty miles up the 
river, heretofore Fort Orange, was denominated Albany. 
The colonists were not dissatisfied with the change; 
very few returned to Holland ; and though afterwards, 
during fifteen months, the mother-country was again 
in possession of the colony, in 1674 it was finally trans- 
ferred to England, and remained more than a century 
under British rule. The members of the Dutch Church 
long retained much influence in New York. 

In 1683, the Duke of York conceded various liberties 
to the people, and the governor was instructed to 
call an assembly of their representatives. On his 
accession to the throne in 1685, James II. retracted 
these liberties, imposed new taxes, and forbade the 
existence of a printing-press in the colony. At this 
period, New York, which now boasts a million of 
inhabitants, contained less than four thousand, and 
the whole province under thirty thousand. Luxury 
was unknown, waggons were used instead of carriages, 
and the inhabitants depended on home-made cloth for 
their apparel. There were few merchants, few servants, 
and very few slaves. Fifteen or twenty vessels traded 
yearly to the port of New York, bringing English 
manufactures, and carrying, in return, the productions 
of the soil, chiefly wheat, timber, and tobacco, as well 
as furs procured from the Indians. 

In 1684, the governors of New York and Virginia 
received at Albany the deputies of the five Indian 

c 3 



2,2, The Church and the Colonies. 

nations, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagos, Cayugas, 
and Senecas, and formed with them a treaty of peace 
and friendship which proved highly valuable in the 
wars of the following century. But New York now had 
its religious troubles. Although the members of the 
Church of England were not much more than a tenth 
of the population, their influence was prominent in the 
council, and awakened the dissenters to jealousy. Those 
of the old Dutch establishment had many points of 
sympathy with Anglicanism ; but the English and 
Scottish Presbyterians and Puritans were decided in 
their animosity. Still the Church of England succeeded 
in obtaining a partial establishment, and under the au- 
thority of Queen Anne, a small piece of ground adjoining 
the city was given to Trinity Church, which has since 
become a valuable endowment. Busy streets now cover 
what was once a meadow, and the property is estimated 
at more than seven millions of dollars. Under an act 
of the Assembly, churches were erected in various 
places, and in 1761 the number of church-people in 
the province of New York was reckoned at twenty-five 
thousand, or a quarter of the population. 

The tract between the Hudson and the Delaware 
had already been conveyed to English proprietaries, 
under the name of New Jersey, and had been partly 
settled by Quakers and by Puritans from New England. 
The proprietaries, in order to encourage the growth of 
population, allowed of a representative government, 
with freedom from taxation, and perfect liberty of 
conscience. They promoted, however, the slave-trade, 



New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 23 

by offering a bounty on the importation of every able- 
bodied negro. In 1683, considerable numbers of 
Scottish Covenanters escaped, or were expelled from, 
their native land, and settled in New Jersey, where they 
readily combined with the Puritans and Quakers in 
advancing the prosperity of the country. Many from 
England, who had taken part in Monmouth's rebellion, 
also joined them, some as transported criminals, and 
others as fugitives from the severity of the law. Thus, 
from various causes, the population rapidly increased, 
and, in 1738, amounted to forty thousand. Early in 
the century, St. Mary's Church was built at Burlington, 
which was at one time designed to be made the residence 
of a bishop. Notwithstanding the diverse origin of the 
first settlers, sixteen thousand, or nearly a sixth of the 
population, were claimed by the Church of England in 
1761. 

On the western side of the Delaware, the important 
colony of Pennsylvania was established in 1682, by 
William Penn. Having friends high in authority, he 
obtained, in discharge of a debt due from the crown, 
a grant of land extending over five degrees of longi- 
tude, and three of latitude, of which himself and his 
heirs were constituted proprietaries. New Sweden, 
now the State of Delaware, was esteemed a part of the 
province of the Duke of York, but Penn, by the pay- 
ment of a stipulated sum, and after much negotiation, 
obtained possession of the title. He established within 
his province freedom of conscience, with equal liberties 
to persons from all countries. The first settlers were 

c 4 



54 The Church and the Colonies. 

Quakers, a sect whose abhorrence of forms became itself 
a most egregious formality. The constitution framed 
for his colony by Penn, was designed " for the support 
of power in reverence with the people, and to secure the 
people from the abuse of power. For liberty without 
obedience is confusion, and obedience without liberty 
is slavery." He confined capital punishment to the 
crimes of treason and murder, and made the prison, 
not so much a place of punishment as a house of 
reformation, where offenders might be reclaimed by 
judicious treatment and instruction. 

His next step was to make a treaty of peace and 
friendship with the natives. At a place a little north 
of where Philadelphia now stands, he met a large com- 
pany of them, and so affected their hearts that they 
promised to live in love with him and his children as 
long as the moon and the sun should endure. This 
treaty was faithfully kept, and Pennsylvania, during 
seventy years, was free from the stain of Indian blood, 
by which other colonies were so fearfully defiled. Penn, 
however, admitted the lawfulness of negro slavery, and 
lived and died a slaveholder.* 

Philadelphia was founded in 1683, and soon con- 
tained six hundred houses. In a representative assembly 
held the same year, the frame of government prepared 
by Penn was adopted, and remains substantially in 
force at the present time. After the return of their 
great legislator to England, the influence of Quakers in 
the colony rapidly diminished, and persons who had no 

* Bancroft, ii. 401. 



Baptism of the Quakers. 25 

connection with their society as rapidly increased. In- 
deed, whatever may be their amiable qualities, their 
want of Sacraments, and of an outward Church system, 
has disqualified the Quakers, on both sides of the 
Atlantic, for the diffusion and maintenance of their 
own principles. It was expressly provided in the ori- 
ginal charter, and readily conceded by Penn, that when- 
ever twenty inhabitants requested a minister of the 
Church of England to reside among them, he should be 
allowed to do so without molestation.* Accordingly, 
in 1695, the first place of Church worship was built in 
Philadelphia, and a clergyman was appointed. Several 
considerable congregations were afterwards established, 
and many hundreds of the Quakers gladly received 
baptism. The Swedes and Grerman Lutherans in the 
colony readily coalesced with the Church, and were 
reckoned as its members. Altogether it was con- 
sidered that, in 1761, sixty-five thousand persons might 
be considered as belonging to her fold within the 
province of Pennsylvania, which was nearly a quarter of 
the entire population. 

In all these middle colonies, notwithstanding the 
settlements formed by other nations, the English race 
greatly preponderated, and seemed destined, eventually, 
to absorb the rest. 

* Anderson's Colonial Church, ii. 605. 



2,6 The Church and the Colonies. 



CHAP. II. 

THE CHUKCH AND THE COLONIES 

{continued). 

ORIGIN OF PURITANISM. — THE PILGRIM FATHERS. SETTLEMENT OF THE 

NORTHERN GROUP OF COLONIES. INTOLERANCE OF THE PURITANS. 

BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT. PERSECUTION OF CHURCHMEN, QUAKERS, 

BAPTISTS, ETC. DEATH OF KING PHILIP. PROSPERITY OF NEW 

ENGLAND. WITCHCRAFT IN MASSACHUSETTS. 




HE most remarkable of the new commu- 
nities planted along the coast of the 
Atlantic, were those established in the 
cold and bracing climate of New England. 
As the Puritans by their vigour and de- 
termination of character have left a permanent and 
definite stamp on the mind and manners of America, it 
may be well if we look back upon the causes in which 
their peculiar principles originated. 

The old Poman Catholic establishment of England, 
notwithstanding its outward power and splendour, be- 
came more and more inadequate to meet the deep want 
of inward religion which was felt by many earnest 
minds after the time of Wiclif. Those who were sen- 
sible of this want, needed the counsel of well-instructed 
ministers of Christ to regulate their zeal and direct 



Origin of the Puritans. 2, 7 

their efforts. But the ecclesiastical authorities of that 
day, unable to sympathise with them, sought rather to 
crush them by every means in their power. Thus the 
personal religion of multitudes came to be separated 
from the public religion of the nation ; and during a 
hundred and fifty years a leaven was working among 
the people, the effect of which was to make them loathe 
as their worst enemies those who should have been their 
pastors and their guides. * 

The Eeformation unchained the public mind; and 
private judgment, with all its benefits and all its 
dangers, came into almost unlimited exercise. The 
troubles of Mary's reign served to prevent the out- 
break of serious divisions : but with the accession of 
Elizabeth, and the consequent safety of the reformed 
party, the true state of things began to appear. It was 
plain that the affections of the people had been to a 
great extent separated not only from the Church of 
Kome, but from all that external organisation which 
had been designed originally to nourish and sustain 
faith and devotion. Fearing to be learners lest they 
should be led astray, men had constituted themselves 
teachers, and had abandoned the very principle of 
obedience. The Eeformed were now manifestly divided 
among themselves. With one party the authority of 
the Church, the succession of the ministry through the 
episcopate, and other important truths, went for nothing, 
because they had been seen in the hands of those who 

* Bishop of Oxford's " American Church," p. 47. 



2 8 The Church and the Colonies. 

taught many things contrary to the Grospel. Because 
they had themselves attained a sense of their individual 
responsibility, they forgot that God had made express 
provision for the union of individuals in a visible body 
upon earth. Because many things connected with the 
outward fabric of religion had been abused to super- 
stition, they were for destroying the entire structure, 
and tolerating nothing but what they themselves judged 
to be absolutely commanded in the written Word of 
(rod. This was Puritanism. 

On the other hand, those bj whom the existing re- 
formed institutions were upheld, had of course the law 
on their side, as well as the most considerable part 
of the nation. Their object had been, as I have 
already remarked, not to destroy, but to cleanse the 
ancient Church of England ; not to establish for them- 
selves a new communion, but to continue members of 
that association which had existed in this country since 
its first conversion to the faith. In consequence of this 
principle, they wisely retained not only the essentials 
of the Catholic Church, but many things sanctioned by 
ancient usage and not contrary to Scripture. This was 
English Churchmanship. 

During the reign of Mary, when many earnest men 
of both parties sought refuge on the Continent, cir- 
cumstances had strengthened the influence of the 
Puritans, and given deflniteness to their system. In 
Switzerland they had received a hearty welcome, and 
those who desired a rigorous austerity of discipline and 
worship, were confirmed in their prepossessions by the 



Puritan Provocations. 29 

stern simplicity then prevailing among the republican 
countrymen of Zuinglius and Calvin. After Elizabeth 
came to the throne, while many of the more peaceable 
Puritans continued in the Establishment, the bitter non- 
conforming party assailed their rulers with a coarse- 
ness of invective which was calculated to give the 
greatest possible provocation. Those who sat at the 
helm of Church and State, desired that the people of 
England should enjoy, if it were possible, the great 
blessing of union in the reformed doctrine and worship. 
Could they indeed have accurately foreseen all the 
desolating effects of religious division which we now 
behold — could they have foretold the scepticism, the 
indifference, and the obstacles to Christian education 
which follow in its train — they might well be excused 
if they had put forth more vigorous, and at the same 
time wiser efforts than they actually did to suppress the 
evil at its first appearance. As it was, the statesmen of 
that day adopted a course which under the circum- 
stances was considered expedient, and allowed the arm 
of the law to fall heavily on a party which aimed at the 
mastery, and which abhorred the very idea of simple to- 
leration. That they did not resist the Puritans merely on 
religious grounds, is proved by the kindness with which 
the quiet Protestant refugees from the Continent were 
always treated, though often differing equally with the 
Puritans from the established system. The contest was 
one which conciliation could never settle, as its object 
was, on one side, self-defence, and on the other, exter- 
mination. But perhaps the theological opponents of 



30 The Church and the Colonies. 

Puritanism could have desired nothing better than 
that which actually took place, namely, that its pro- 
fessors should obtain an opportunity of reigning un- 
checked in a distant land, where their system could 
attain its full development. Future ages would thus 
learn that the substance of religion decays when its 
forms and outward framework have been destroyed, 
and that unwarranted separation, by continually pro- 
ducing new schisms, ultimately becomes its own punish- 
ment. 

Much sentimentalism has been expressed in regard to 
the " Pilgrim Fathers," as if they were innocent vic- 
tims of persecution driven to seek in a howling wilder- 
ness " freedom to worship Grod " in their own way. The 
truth is, that having been defeated in their first 
attempts to crush the Church of England, many of the 
Puritan faction preferred emigration to submission. 
Although in those days emigration was not free, as at 
present, the members of one of their congregations near 
the Humber managed to escape to Holland, where they 
resided twelve years and enjoyed the utmost religious 
freedom. But the struggle for bread was hard ; they 
could not feel at home among the Dutch; and they 
turned their thoughts to the New World, where they 
hoped to see no superior, and at the same time to 
improve their temporal circumstances by engaging in 
the fur trade and the fisheries. Accordingly they sent 
two of their number to obtain the consent of the King 
and of the London Company to their settlement in 
Virginia. The company gave them some encourage- 



The Pilgrim Fathers. 31 

merit, but James I. would only give them an informal 
promise of connivance or neglect. 

The Pilgrims now met with a fresh difficulty. They 
had not sufficient capital for the execution of their 
plans, and only obtained it by a kind of mortgage of 
their labour for the next seven years. They arranged 
that a part of their body should first proceed across the 
Atlantic, the weaker members being left to follow. 

After many delays, a hundred and one of their num- 
ber sailed from Plymouth in the " Mayflower," a small 
vessel of a hundred and eighty tons. They were carried 
more to the northward than they intended, and, after a 
boisterous voyage of sixty-three days, anchored in the 
harbour of Cape Cod, the most barren and inhospitable 
part of the New England coast. This place was not 
calculated for a settlement, and, after further search, 
they discovered another harbour, which they named Ply- 
mouth, in grateful recollection of the port from which 
they had sailed. On the 1 1th of December (O.S.), 1620, 
in the depth of winter, they landed on Plymouth Eock, 
having first voluntarily formed themselves into a body 
politic. In the following spring, when their numbers 
had been reduced to fifty by privation and disease, they 
concluded a treaty of friendship with Massasoit, one of 
the Indian princes, from whom the province of Massa- 
chusetts is supposed by some to have derived its name. 

At the end of ten years, the population of the Ply- 
mouth colony did not exceed a few hundreds, but they had 
extended their settlements to various places, and one of 
them as far east as the Kennebec Kiver in Maine. In the 



32 The Church and the Colt 



onies. 



absence of a colonial charter, they had adopted a repub- 
lican mode of government, the governor being elected by 
the people and his authority restricted by a council of five 
assistants. For eighteen years the legislature was com- 
posed of all the men of the plantation ; but afterwards, 
the increase of population and the extension of territory 
led to the introduction of the representative system. 
In 1623, under the English Plymouth Company, already 
mentioned, Sir Ferdinando Grorges took a patent for the 
country between the Merrimack and Kennebec Eivers, 
extending from the sea to the St. Lawrence. In con- 
sequence of this, the towns of Portsmouth and Dover 
were settled, both within the present limits of New 
Hampshire. Four years subsequently, a body of the 
emigrants, residing to the northward of Plymouth, con- 
cluded a treaty with the Plymouth Company, for the 
purchase of the territory between Charles Eiver and 
the Merrimack, and extending three miles south of the 
former and north of the latter. In 1628, Salem was 
founded by John Endicott on the coast within these 
limits, and in 1629 a charter was obtained from the 
Crown confirming the grant of the Plymouth Company. 
By it the association became a corporation, with the 
title of the " Governor and Company of Massachusetts 
Bay in New England." The officers were to be a 
governor, deputy-governor, and eighteen assistants ; the 
latter to be elected by the corporation. No law was to 
be made in opposition to any law of England. In the 
following year Boston was founded, and soon afterwards 
the persecuting spirit of Puritanism unfolded itself. 



Puritan Intolerance. 33 

The people of Massachusetts Bay, rapidly increasing 
by emigration, now claimed and exercised nearly all the 
powers of an independent State. They deliberately set 
at nought many of the laws of England, in direct oppo- 
sition to the terms of their charter. The laws which they 
enacted on the subject of religion were contrived and 
executed with so much rigour, that, in the words of a 
New England writer, " the persecution which drove the 
Puritans out of England might be considered as great 
lenity and indulgence in the comparison."* "This 
people," says another author, (i who in England could 
not bear being chastised with rods, had no sooner got 
free from their fetters than they scourged their fellow- 
refugees with scorpions." One of their own number 
left the settlement from detestation of their uncharitable 
conduct. " I fled from England," he said, " to escape 
the tyranny of my lords the bishops, but I was glad to 
flee away again to escape the tyranny of my lords the 
brethren? Amusements of nearly all kinds were viewed 
by these harsh enthusiasts with extreme aversion, and 
were forbidden and punished equally with vices and 
crimes. In England, those who neglected to attend 
their parish church were fined a shilling ; but in Mas- 
sachusetts, five shillings, and in the older Plymouth 
settlement, ten shillings was not too severe an imposi- 
tion on those who failed to attend a meeting-house. f 
He who denied ft the country's power to compel any 
one to attend congregational worship," was fastened in 

* Judge Story. 

f Coit's Puritanism, pp. 220, 221. 
D 



34 The Church and the Colonies. 

the stocks. He who kept Christmas, or any other 
holyday of the Church of England, must pay the same 
penalty as for slighting the puritanical conventicle. He 
who reproached a magistrate or minister, or circulated 
a heterodox book, must pay five or ten pounds accord- 
ing to circumstances. As women were less disposed 
than men to be silent under pecuniary impositions, there 
was an express provision on their account, namely, that 
their tongues should be kept fast in a cleft stick. 

By the year 1640, the settlers of Massachusetts Bay 
were four thousand in number. Through their industry 
and enterprise, scarcity had yielded to abundance, rude 
huts had given place to well-built houses, and no less 
than fifty towns and villages had been established. Com- 
merce, as well as agriculture, engaged attention, and the 
principal exports were furs, lumber, grain, and fish. 
Ship-building had commenced at an early period, and 
in 1643 the manufacture of cotton, imported from Bar- 
bados, was taken in hand, provision having already 
been made for linen and woollen manufactures. 

The neighbouring territory of Connecticut was occu- 
pied by persons of the same sentiments and character 
with those of Massachusetts. The Connecticut Eiver 
had been discovered, as I have already mentioned, by 
the Dutch, who made a station at the place now known 
as Hartford. In 1635, the English enforced their 
claim to the territory by erecting a fort at the mouth 
of the river, and in the same year sixty persons emi- 
grated from Massachusetts and formed a settlement. 
In the following year, a government was organised 



Blue Laws of Newhaven. 35 

under a commission from the parent colony, and the 
population continued to increase, though exposed for 
some time to the hostility of powerful tribes of In- 
dians. In the first instance they formed three distinct 
settlements, Newhaven, Saybrook, and that under the 
government of Massachusetts. In 1662, these settle- 
ments were consolidated into one province under a 
charter of Charles II., and with the name of Con- 
necticut. 

The laws passed by the Newhaven dominion at an 
early period of its history were printed on blue paper, 
and are known to this day as the " Blue Laws." They 
serve to give an idea of the character and manners of 
the people, and the following are some of the most 
remarkable of them, as given by Hutchinson : — 

" No one shall be a freeman or give a vote, unless he 
be converted and a member in full communion of one 
of the churches allowed in this dominion. Each free- 
man shall swear by the blessed Grod to bear true allegi- 
ance to this dominion, and that Jesus is the only king. 
No Quaker or dissenter from the established worship 
of this dominion, shall be allowed to give a vote for the 
election of magistrates or any officer. No food or 
lodging shall be allowed to any Quaker, Adamite, or 
other heretic. If any person turns Quaker he shall be 
banished, and not suffered to return but on pain of 
death. No one shall run on the Sabbath day, or walk 
in his garden, or elsewhere, except reverently to and 
from meeting. No one shall travel, cook victuals, make 
beds, sweep houses, cut hair, or shave on the Sabbath 

D 2 



%6 The Church and the Colonies. 

day. No woman shall kiss her children upon the 
Sabbath or fasting day. The Sabbath shall begin at 
sunset on Saturday. No one shall read common prayer, 
keep Christmas or saints' days, make minced pies, 
dance, play cards, or play on any instrument of music 
except the drum, trumpet, and Jew's-harp. Every 
male shall have his hair cut round according: to a 
cap." 

In 1642, by the request of the people of New 
Hampshire, that territory was annexed to Massachusetts 
on equal terms. Not having been settled by Puritans, 
the system of Massachusetts, requiring that " church 
members " alone should participate in the administra- 
tion of the government, was not applied to New Hamp- 
shire. In the following year a confederation was 
effected, embracing the several governments of Massa- 
chusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and Newhaven, under 
the title of « The United Colonies of New England." 
The object of this voluntary alliance, thus foreshadow- 
ing the United States, was mutual protection against 
dangers at home or abroad; the local government 
being carefully reserved to each. Two commissioners 
were appointed from each colony, who were to meet 
annually for deliberation. Ehode Island and Maine 
were not admitted into this union, on account of differ- 
ences in religious opinion as well as in civil ad- 
ministration. Maine had been granted to Sir Ferdinando 
Grorges in 1639,, and had been regarded as a Church of 
England colony. In 1651 it was incorporated with 
Massachusetts, on the understanding that the mem- 



Confederacy of New England. %j 

bers of the Church of England residing in it should 
not be disturbed in the enjoyment of their religious 
liberty. Even as early as the reign of Charles II. fears 
were entertained in England that through the instru- 
mentality of the confederacy of New England, the 
people were aiming at independence. 

The importance of general education was early seen 
by these New England republicans, though neglected 
in the southern and, comparatively speaking, in 
the middle colonies. Among the early settlers were 
many educated men, and a large proportion of them 
were members of the University of Cambridge. An 
American Cambridge was founded near Boston, where 
Harvard College was established in 1636. In 1647 a 
law was passed in Massachusetts requiring the establish- 
ment of a public school in every township contain- 
ing fifty families, and a school of a superior kind 
for preparing boys for college in every township con- 
taining a hundred families. The rest of the New 
England confederacy soon followed the example of 
Massachusetts in this respect, and colleges grew up 
almost simultaneously with the system of common 
schools. 

There can be no doubt that a large proportion of 
the New England Puritans were persons of much 
practical wisdom, earnest piety, and strong personal re- 
ligion. It is, however, only too evident that, as a com- 
munity, they went beyond others in their fanaticism 
and bigotry. Their strict, and indeed Judaical, regula- 
tions respecting the Sabbath, opposed as they were to 

D 3 



38 The Church and the Colonies. 

the ancient Church doctrine respecting the Lord's Day, 
produced in many minds an aversion to that which 
they professed to honour. The spiritual pride and 
hypocrisy which grew out of their system, tended to 
bring all religion into contempt. Cruelty to animals 
was among them a punishable offence, but cruelty to 
men seemed in many cases to be considered a virtue. 

In regard to the Church of England, it was declared 
in the fundamental principles of the Newhaven settle- 
ment, "that all vicars, rectors, deans, priests and 
bishops, are of the devil ; " and that " it is a heinous 
sin to be present when prayers are read out of a book 
by a vicar or bishop." * As might be expected, the 
overthrow of the Church of England during Cromwell's 
usurpation, was an occasion of prodigious exultation in 
Massachusetts and Connecticut. Some of the settlers 
returned to England with the object of taking part in 
the work of destruction. One of their number, the 
notorious Hugh Peters, once a minister in Salem, 
preached in England in favour of the murder of the 
king. After the restoration, the regicides met with 
great sympathy, and three of them, GrofYe, Whalley, 
and Dixwell, found a safe refuge in New England. 

Two brothers, John and Samuel Brown f, emi- 
grated to Salem with several hundred others in 1629. 
They were in high repute with the governor and 
other officers of the Massachusetts Company at home, 



* History of Connecticut, 1781, quoted by the Bishop of Oxford. 
•f" Coit's Puritanism, p. 177. 



Expulsion of the Browns. $g 

for as jet the charter had not crossed the Atlantic. 
From these high authorities they had received re- 
commendations certifying to their respectability, and 
to their sincere affection to the good of the plan- 
tation, together with an order for two hundred acres 
each in the first division of the public lands. One of 
these gentlemen held official rank under the charter 
both at home and in Massachusetts ; and the other 
was a member of the council in the plantation. Yet it 
happened, unfortunately for them, that they claimed 
the same righfc to judge for themselves which the 
Puritans had exercised, and their judgment was in 
favour of the Church of England. They did not think 
that the first step in reformation necessarily consisted 
in utter separation from that Church, in throwing her 
most sacred rites and symbols to the winds, and treating 
her bishops and clergy as the ofTscouring of the earth. 
They found the Church and government of England 
assailed, not in the sermons only, but in the very 
prayers, of the Puritan ministers. They consequently 
withdrew from the public meetings, and contented 
themselves with quietly hearing the Prayer-book in a 
private dwelling. Endicott, who then had rule in 
Salem, accordingly summoned them before him as the 
leaders of a faction. They were denounced as " factious 
and evil-conditioned," and notwithstanding their posi- 
tion and their loud remonstrances, were forthwith sent 
home to England. Their names are perpetuated to 
this day by an inscription on a marble tablet in the 
Episcopal church of St. Peter at Salem, which com- 

D 4 



40 The Church and the Colonies. 

memorates their " intrepidity in the cause of religious 
freedom." 

It may seem a strange thing that intelligent men 
and churchmen like the Browns should have selected 
Massachusetts, above all other places, for their resi- 
dence. But the truth is, that the Puritans while in 
England, or leaving it, often made such professions of 
attachment to the Church and State, that straight- 
forward persons might easily mistake their real objects. 
Among the passengers who accompanied the Browns 
on their outward voyage, was Francis Higginson, for- 
merly a clergyman of the Establishment at Leicester, 
and afterwards one of the earliest of the Puritan mi- 
nisters at Salem. As he saw the white cliffs of his father- 
land sinking beneath the horizon, his natural feelings, 
with perhaps some qualms of compunction, rose within 
his bosom. He called his children and the other 
passengers to the stern of the ship to take their last 
sight of their native country, and made the following 
speech, which certainly does credit to his feelings: — 
" We will not say, as the Separatists were wont to say 
at their leaving England, — farewell Babylon ! farewell 
Eome ! But we will say, farewell dear England ! farewell 
the Church of Grod in England, and all the Christian 
friends there ! " * He concluded with a fervent prayer 
for the King, the Church and the State in England. 

About the same time f , a large party of Puritan 
emigrants addressed, on the eve of sailing, a singularly 

* Coit's Puritanism, p. 156. t Ibid p. 157. 



Detestation of the Church. 41 

loving letter to their brethren of the Church of England. 
" We desire," they said, " you would be pleased to take 
notice of the principals and body of our company, as 
those who esteem it an honour to call the Church of 
England, from whence we rise, our dear mother ; and 
cannot part from our native country, where she spe- 
cially resideth, without much sadness of heart and many 
tears in our eyes ; ever acknowledging that such hope 
and part as we have obtained in the common salvation, 
we have received in her bosom and sucked it from her 
breasts. We leave it not, therefore, as loathing that 
milk wherewith we were nourished there, but blessing 
Grod for the parentage and education ; and as members 
of the same body shall always rejoice in her good, and 
unfeignedly grieve for any sorrow that shall ever betide 
her; and while we have breath sincerely desire and 
endeavour the continuance and abundance of her wel- 
fare, with the enlargement of her bounds in the king- 
dom of Jesus Christ." 

The celebrated Cotton Mather, one of the leading 
Puritan clergy of New England, admits the difficulty 
of reconciling this letter with the principles declared 
and the practice really followed. Governor Hutchinson 
remarks, in his " History of Massachusetts," " However 
problematical it may be what these settlers were while 
they remained in England, they left no room for doubt 
after they arrived in America." President Quincy, 
of Harvard University, plainly says that the Puritans 
had an "utter detestation of the English hierarchy, 
service, and discipline." Though compelled by circum- 



\2 The Church and the Colonies. 

stances sometimes to conceal, and sometimes to deny, 
this antipathj^, it was, in truth, one of the master- 
passions in the hearts of those early emigrants, and 
constitutes a principal clue to their language, conduct, 
policy, and laws." 

It was not, however, the members of the Church of 
England only who suffered from the violence and, we 
fear we must add, the duplicity of the Puritan party. 
Puritanism, with its doctrine of unlimited private judg- 
ment, was continually giving rise to new divisions which 
the Puritan rulers endeavoured by the severest measures 
to restrain. Some of the people embraced Quaker 
opinions, and these opinions were forthwith denounced 
as " a stinking * vapour from hell ; " while the members 
of the sect were described as (i rogues and vagabonds." 
Quakers, as such, could be put in stocks and cages, tied 
to a cart's tail, or driven into the wilderness among 
wolves and bears. Their ears might be cropped and 
their tongues bored ; they might be sold as slaves, and 
finally hung and left unburied.f William Eobinson, 
Marmaduke Stephenson, William Leddra, and Mary 
Dyar, being found guilty of Quakerism, the first three 
suffered death at Boston on the 27th of October, 1659, 
and the last soon afterwards. Baptists fared little 
better. Eoger Williams, a young Puritan minister of 
disputatious spirit, professed Anabaptist opinions, and 
refused to hold communion with intolerance, which 
he declared to be " lamentably contrary to the doc- 

* Coit, p. 308. f Coit, p. 311. 



Settlement of Rhode Island. 43 

trine of Christ." His independence gave great offence 
to the magistrates, and he was driven into exile in the 
depth of winter. He took refuge with Massasoit, the 
Indian chief, and finally, together with some of his 
own party, established a settlement in the continental 
portion of Ehode Island. He was a man of peace, and 
by his influence with the Indian tribes, was enabled to 
save the Dutch from extermination, as I have already 
mentioned. 

Soon after the expulsion of Williams, another party 
arose contending for freedom of religious opinion. 
Their founder was Anne Hutchinson, a woman of elo- 
quence and ability ; and her brother, John Wheelwright, 
together with the celebrated Henry Vane, the younger, 
at that time governor of the colony, favoured the new 
doctrines. After a violent dispute, Anne Hutchinson 
and her brother were exiled from Massachusetts. The 
latter, with his friends, founded the town of Exeter on 
the Piscataqua, and the former, with a considerable 
number of followers, proceeded to Ehode Island, where 
the insular portion of the district was assigned to them 
as their abode. In 1644, through the influence of 
Williams with the Long Parliament, the settlements were 
incorporated as a colony, " with full power and authority 
to rule themselves." In 1695, Cotton Mather describes 
Ehode Island, continental and insular, as " a colluvies 
of Antinomians, Familists, Anabaptists, Anti-Sabbata- 
rians, Arminians, Socinians, Quakers, Eanters, and 
everything but Eoman Catholics and true Christians, 
bona terra mala gens.'''' 



44 The Church and the Colonies. 

Again, another party headed by Samuel Gorton, fol- 
lowing their own judgment, were adjudged guilty of 
death, and though this sentence was not executed, they 
were condemned to work like convicts, and wear irons 
on one leg till they could be conveniently banished. 
Even as late as 1700, a law, the penalties of which were 
perpetual banishment or death, was made against the 
followers of the Church of Eome. Indeed the bare 
toleration of different forms of worship was condemned 
as unquestionable sin. "I look upon toleration," said 
one of the influential Puritans in 1673, " as the firstborn 
of all abominations." 

The aversion entertained to all symbols which could 
be in any way identified with Eome, was a strong fea- 
ture in the Puritan character. Endicott, the first Puri- 
tan governor, even attacked the banner of his country,- 
and caused the cross to be torn out of it, as a symbol 
of idolatry.* From a similar spirit the meeting-houses 
were built north and south, because the English churches 
stood east and west, and the windows of these strange 
structures were made square in opposition to the an- 
cient pointed style. No prayer was used at funerals f> 
"lest it might in time introduce the customs of the 
English Church." 

The principal end of founding the colonies of Massa- 
chusetts and Connecticut had been declared in the royal 
charter to be " the winning of the natives to the know- 

* Coit, p. 248. f Ibid. p. 495. 



John Eliot. 45 



ledge and obedience of the only true Grod and Saviour. 
John Eliot, formerly a member of the University of 
Cambridge and a clergyman of the Church of England, 
was one of the very few who devoted themselves to the 
spiritual improvement of the aborigines. He gathered 
many of them into villages, taught them to read and 
write English, and induced them to adopt civilised 
habits. He prepared an Indian grammar, and published 
a translation of the whole Bible in the Massachusetts 
dialect. He taught the men how to cultivate the 
ground, and the women various arts of domestic in- 
dustry. He instructed them in the principles of Chris- 
tianity, while the simplicity of his life and manners, 
and the sweetness of his temper, won the affections alike 
of the emigrants and of the savages. 

Yet the conversion of these unhappy people was 
generally neglected, while the Puritans took possession 
of their broad lands, either on the payment of merely 
nominal prices, or under the plea that the Lord had 
given the earth to be the inheritance of His saints. In- 
stead of seeking by kindness and fair dealing to remove 
the suspicions which naturally arose on the part of the 
ancient inhabitants, they shed Indian blood without 
mercy, as the blood of Canaanites. The result was the 
same as with the wretched natives of Mexico and Peru, 
and it has been calculated that 180,000 of the red men 
came to an untimely end in Massachusetts and Connec- 
ticut alone. The following narrative will help to solve 
the question why the red man fades away at the ap- 
proach of civilisation. 



46 The Church and the Colonies. 

The aged chief, Massasoit, who had welcomed the 
pilgrims to New England, and afterwards given an 
asylum to the founder of Ehode Island, was succeeded, 
at his decease, by his son Philip, as chief over the con- 
federacy of the Pokanoket Indians. As the villages of 
the English drew nearer and nearer to them, the na- 
tives found themselves deprived of their land by unfair 
though legal contracts, and crowded into narrow necks 
of country, in which they could be readily watched. 
Collisions took place in which some of the colonists 
lost their lives. A war broke out in which King Philip 
and his tribe, after being driven from their homes, 
succeeded in exciting the natives generally to adopt 
their cause. Town after town was burned by' them, 
and during a whole year New England was kept in a 
state of constant alarm. 

The Narragansett tribe was now declared by the 
commissioners of the united colonies to be accessory to 
these outrages, and accordingly their wigwams were set 
on fire, and the people who were receiving shelter 
during the winter were shot down if they attempted to 
escape. Men, women and children, " no man knoweth 
how many hundreds of them," were burned to death. 
Many of the survivors became suppliants for peace, but 
Philip refused to submit. At length his wife and only 
son were taken prisoners, and the unhappy chieftain 
exclaimed, " My heart breaks, now I am ready to die." 
Philip and his few remaining men were surprised in 
their encampment and slain, and his son, a child nine 
years old, the last of the family of the kind and 



A Voice from the Throne. 47 

friendly Massasoit, was sold as a slave into the island 
of Bermuda. 

Eliot's converts, the " praying Indians," suffered cruel 
injustice. The colonists regarded them with suspicion, 
while the Indians looked on them as allies of the 
English. Some were killed, others were imprisoned, 
or driven from their settlements, and a blow was in- 
flicted on the progress of Christianity among the natives 
from which it never recovered. 

Their Indian wars, though doubtless sufficiently excit- 
ing, by no means diverted the attention of the Puritans 
from theology. "From the year 1650 to the Kestoration," 
we are informed that "Massachusetts was chiefly 
employed in a business that, of all others, seems to have 
been most congenial to it ; in preserving, by persecution, 
uniformity in opinion and discipline."* But power 
changed hands in England, and a voice from the throne 
came over the Atlantic, " as the roar of a New England 
sea-beach presaging an eastern storm." f The Puritans 
were compelled to hear from a source, "resentment 
against which was paralysed by the ague of apprehen- 
sion," such language as this : — " That such as desire to 
use the Book of Common Prayer, be permitted to do 
so, without incurring any penalty, reproach, or dis- 
advantage; it being very scandalous that any persons 
should be debarred the exercise of their religion, ac- 
cording to the laws and customs of England, by those 
who were indulged with the liberty of being of what 
profession or religion they pleased." 

* Chalmers, quoted by Colt, p. 195. f Coit, p. 201. 



48 The Church and the Colonies. 

The Puritans were unable openly to oppose this 
sarcastic edict of the merry monarch. But, by means 
of evasions and postponements, they kept up a contest 
till 1684, when the charter itself became a nullity 
under the sentence of an English court. Eesistance 
now became fruitless ; and Dudle} 7 , the Eoyal President, 
with an Episcopal clergyman in his train, entered the 
capital of Massachusetts. Andros, appointed in 1686 
Grovernor-general of the colonies north of Maryland, 
showed an arbitrary disposition, and a spirit of resistance 
was aroused, which exhibited itself in open insurrection. 
The news of the Eevolution of 1688 reached America 
in April 1689, and was the signal for wide-spread re- 
joicings. 

With the exception of the painful effects of religious 
bigotry, New England at this time presented a bright 
picture of colonial happiness. In Connecticut the go- 
vernment was exercised by a community of intelligent 
farmers ; and for a long time there was hardly a lawyer 
in the land.* In those days of simplicity the best 
house required no fastening but a latch lifted by a 
string ; and bolts and locks were unknown. The fields, 
the hills, and the rivers, supplied the settlers with food, 
and their clothing was the result of domestic industry 
in spinning and weaving. The state of things was not 
materially different in the other north-eastern colonies, 
where the neat and thriving villages already excited 
admiration. Massachusetts possessed a widely extended 

* M. Murray, p. 111. 



First Church in Boston. 49 

trade ; commerce had increased ; and such was the pros- 
perity of the country that after the great fire in London 
large contributions were sent to the sufferers from their 
transatlantic brethren. The population of New Eng- 
land is supposed to have amounted, in 1675, to 55,000, 
of which the government of Massachusetts comprised 
about one half. The recent enforcement of the Eng- 
lish Act of Uniformity had doubtless contributed 
to swell the amount ; but independently of emigration 
it has been found in America that natural increase 
alone suffices to double the inhabitants within a quarter 
of a century. In the course of fifteen years after its 
first settlement, New England received from the parent 
country 21,200 persons, and never afterwards derived 
any considerable accessions from beyond the seas. 

In the year 1691, i( King's Chapel " was founded in 
Boston for Church of England worship, under the 
charter of William III. Yet, for many years, the 
churchmen of New England had a severe struggle for 
bare existence.* In an address to the king, the 
rector and wardens of this chapel complained, in 
behalf of the congregation, that they had been injured 
and abused, their church daily threatened to be pulled 
down, the minister hindered in the discharge of his 
duty, and excessive taxes charged upon them to support 
a disloyal party, " which, under pretence of the public 
good, desired nothing but ' destruction to the Church 
and to the whole country." At Stratford, in Con- 

* Coit, p. 207. 

E 



go The Church and the Colonies. 

necticut, a new congregation endured barbarous cruelty. 
As they claimed exemption, under English law, from 
payments in support of Puritanism, one of the church- 
wardens and a vestryman were seized at midnight, and 
hurried off eight miles to the gaol, where they were con- 
fined without fire or lights, until, after three days of 
suffering, they paid the sums demanded. At the same 
time it must be recollected that, although the only 
offence of these men lay in their religion, the Puritan 
establishment was in no way recognised by the laws 
of England. In other parts of New England, wherever 
churchmen ventured to show themselves as such, they 
were compelled to suffer every kind of insult and 
annoyance at the hands of the dominant party. Little 
more than a hundred years ago, an old man, long a 
member of the Church of England, was publicly 
whipped for not attending meeting ; and the intolerant 
spirit which prompted this and similar acts was by no 
means extinct even in the present century. 

Not long after the introduction of organised church- 
manship into Massachusetts, a new cause of excitement 
appeared. In New England, as in the kindred reli- 
gious communities of Scotland, the belief in witchcraft 
had fastened itself with peculiar tenacity on the elements 
of religious faith. In the memorable year 1688, as 
Bancroft informs us, the daughter of John Goodwin, a 
child of thirteen years, charged a laundress with 
having stolen linen from the family. An Irishwoman 
named Grlover, the mother of the laundress, rebuked 
the false accusation, and the girl, to secure revenge, 



Salem Witchcraft. £i 

became bewitched. The infection spread, and three 
others of the same family, the youngest a boy of less 
than five years old, soon succeeded in equally arresting 
public attention. They would affect to be deaf, then 
dumb, then blind, or all three at once : they would bark 
like dogs, or purr like so many cats ; but they ate well 
and slept well. The renowned Cotton Mather went to 
prayer by the side of one of them, and the child lost 
her hearing till the prayer was over. What was to be 
done? The four ministers of Boston and the one of 
Charlestown assembled in Goodwin's house, and spent a 
whole day in fasting and prayers. In consequence, the 
youngest child was delivered from the possession. But 
it was concluded that if the ministers could by prayer 
deliver a possessed child, there must have been a witch, 
and the affair was prosecuted with vigour. Glover, the 
supposed culprit, when questioned, exhibited great be- 
wilderment, and made strange answers in her native 
Irish dialect. One woman testified that six years 
before she had heard another woman say that she had 
seen Grlover come down her chimney. It was plain that 
the prisoner was a Papist. She had never learned the 
Lord's prayer in English ; she could repeat the pater-r 
noster fluently, but not correctly. Accordingly the 
Puritan ministers and Goodwin's family had the satisfac- 
tion of seeing her condemned as a witch and executed. 
The possessed girl, however, obtained no relief, and 
Cotton Mather invited her to his house, eager at the 
same time to obtain a knowledge of the world of spirits, 
and to confute the " Sadducism " of the times. By a 

E 2 



52 The Church and the Colonies. 

series of experiments he found that the devil would 
permit her to read in Quaker or Popish books, or the 
Book of Common Prayer ; but a prayer from Cotton 
Mather, or a chapter from the Bible, would throw her 
into convulsions. His vanity was further gratified ; for 
the bewitched girl would say that the demons could not 
enter his study, and that his own person was shielded 
by God against blows from the evil spirits.* 

The first governor of Massachusetts, appointed 
under the new charter of 1691, was Sir William Phipps, 
a native of New England, who had gained wealth and 
distinction by his enterprise with the diving-bell in 
raising treasure from a Spanish wreck. He is described 
by Bancroft as dull and headstrong, and in religious 
matters a victim to superstition. Mather had procured 
the appointment of one Stoughton as deputy-governor, 
and the whole of the governor's council were friendly 
to the interests of Puritanism. Mather now thanked 
(rod that " the set time to favour Zion " had come ; and 
accordingly proceeded with all his energies to stir 
up the people in a wild crusade, not only against 
witchcraft itself, but against all who should be bold 
enough to assert that witchcraft was a delusion. One 
poor old woman of Salem, who bore the hated name of 
" Bishop," was said to have the power, through her 
spectre, of inflicting tortures. " She gave a look," 
says Mather, " towards the great and spacious meeting- 
house of Salem, and immediately a demon, invisibly 

* Bancroft, iii. p. 77. 



The Invisible World, 53 

entering the house, tore down a part of it." She was 
found guilty, and under the authority of Phipps and 
his council, was hanged, protesting her innocence. At 
its next session the court condemned five more women, 
all of blameless lives, and ail declaring their innocence 
to the last. 

It was now hinted that confession was the only 
avenue to safety for the accused. The gaols were 
soon filled, for fresh accusations were necessary to con- 
firm the confessions. Six persons who had been con- 
victed agreed in denouncing a seventh, who was 
accordingly seized and hanged. Some would make no 
confession till after torture ; and as the Anabaptists 
were unpopular, they were often denounced by the 
accused. One man of eighty, refusing to plead, was 
pressed to death. Within five months after Phipps 
assumed the reins of government, twenty persons had 
been executed for witchcraft, and fifty-five tortured 
or terrified into penitent confession.* With accusa- 
tions, confessions increased; and with confessions, ac- 
cusations were multiplied. 

The deputy-governor continued to act in the matter 
with unabated zeal, though embarrassed by some more 
enlightened persons who regarded the executions as 
judicial murders. Cotton Mather continued eager " to 
lift up a standard against the infernal enemy," and 
prepared his narrative entitled " The Wonders of the In- 
visible World," in order to promote a pious thankfulness 

* Bancroft, iii. p. 94. 
E 3 



54 The Church and the Colonies. 



for the execution of justice. For this book he re- 
ceived the approbation of the President of Harvard 
College, the praises of the governor, and the gratitude 
of Stoughton.* 

The following extracts will give some idea of this re- 
markable literary curiosity! : — 

" The New Englanders are a people of Grod settled 
in those which were once the devil's territories ; and it 
may easily be supposed that the devil was exceedingly 
disturbed. The devil, thus irritated, immediately tried 
all sorts of methods to overthrow this poor plantation. 
Wherefore the devil is now making one more attempt 
upon us. An army of devils is horribly 

broke in upon the place which is the centre, and after a 
sort, the firstborn of our English settlements, and the 
houses of the good people are filled with the doleful 
shrieks of their children and servants, tormented by 
invisible hands with tortures altogether preternatural. 
. . . More than twenty have confessed that they 
have signed a book which the devil showed them, and 
engaged in his hellish design of bewitching and ruining 
our land. . . . Yea, that at prodigious witch- 
meetings the wretches have proceeded so far as to 
concert and consult the methods of rooting out the 
Christian religion from this country, and setting up 
instead of it perhaps a more gross diabolism than ever 



* Bancroft, iii. p. 95. 

f " The Wonders of the Invisible "World ; being an Account of the 
Tryals of several Witches lately executed in New England." By 
Cotton Mather. 4to. London, 1693. 



George Burroughs. £g 

the world saw before. . . . These monsters of 
witches . . . each of thern have their spectres or 
devils, commissioned by them to be the engines of their 
malice. By these wicked spectres they seize poor 
people about the country with various and bloody tor- 
ments. . . . The people thus afflicted are miser* 
ably scratched and bitten, so that the marks are most 
visible to all the world, but the causes utterly invisible. 
And the same invisible furies do most visibly stick 
pins into the bodies of the afflicted, and scale them, and 
hideously distort and disjoint all their members. Yea 
they sometimes drag the poor people out of their 
chambers, and carry them over trees and hills for 
divers miles together. A large portion of the persons 
tortured by these diabolical spectres are horribly tempted 
by them ... to sign the devil's laws in a spectral 
book laid before them, which two or three of these poor 
sufferers, being by these tiresome sufferings overcome to 
do, they have immediately been released from all their 
miseries, and they appeared in spectre then to torture 
their former fellow-sufferers." 

After this follows an account of the trial, condem- 
nation and execution of one George Burroughs, a 
preacher of Salem. "He was accused by nine per- 
sons for extraordinary lifting, and such feats of strength 
as could not be done without a diabolical assistance. 
. . . There were now heard the testimonies of 
several persons who were most notoriously bewitched, 
and every day tormented by invisible hands, and these 
all now charged the spectres of George Burroughs to 

E 4 



56 The Church and the Col 



onies. 



have a share in their torments. ... It was remark- 
able, that whereas biting was one of the ways which the 
witches used for the vexing of the sufferers, when they 
cried out of Greorge Burroughs biting them, the point 
of the teeth would be seen on the flesh of the corn- 
plainer s, and just such a set of teeth as Greorge 
Burroughs', which could be distinguished from those of 
some other men. . . . Others of them testified 
that in their torments Greorge Burroughs tempted them 
to go unto a sacrament, unto which they perceived 
him with the sound of a trumpet summoning of other 
witches, who quickly after the sound would come from 
all quarters. . . . Several of the bewitched gave 
testimony that they had been troubled with the ap- 
parition of two women, who said that they were 
Greorge Burroughs' two wives, and that he had been the 
death of them. . . . He was a very puny man, 
yet he had often done things beyond the strength of a 
giant. A gun of above seven foot barrel, and so heavy 
that strong men could not steadily hold it out with both 
hands, there were several testimonies given in by persons 
of credit and honour that he made nothing of taking 
up such a gun behind the lock with but one hand, and 
holding it out like a pistol at arm's length." 

Poor Greorge Burroughs is said to have made faltering 
and inconsistent answers at his trial. But his worst 
offence seems to have been that he declared before the 
court " that there neither are nor ever were witches ; nor 
that the having made a compact with the devil, can send 
a devil to torment other people at a distance." This 



End of the Delusion. 57 

opinion wounded the self-love of the judges, for it 
made them the accusers and judicial murderers of the 
innocent.* The jury found him guilty, and he was 
hanged, after fervently repeating the Lord's Prayer and 
asserting his innocence to the last. 

The people now began to think that, if these trials 
proceeded, no one was safe. The excitement rapidly 
abated, and Cotton Mather attempted to persuade others 
that he had not been specially active in getting up the 
delusion. f He had encouraged it in order to check the 
growing spirit of (S Sadducism," but when ic died away 
it left men infinitely more disposed to scepticism than 
before. 

I have dwelt to some extent on the harsh temper 
and strange inconsistencies of the Puritans, in the hope 
of correcting some misapprehensions respecting them. 
Their virtues have been abundantly celebrated by their 
own writers, and it would be unjust to withhold due 
praise from their industry, frugality, intelligence and 
enterprise. Their descendants now constitute perhaps 
one third of the population of the United States, and 
can scarcely be estimated at less than ten millions of 
souls. In forming a proper judgment of the American 
people, it is therefore of the first importance that not 
only the lights but the shades of Puritan character 
should receive their full share of attention. 

In the year 1761, the population of Massachusetts 
was estimated at a quarter of a million, and that of all 

* Bancroft, iii. p. 97. t Ibid. p. 98. 



58 The Church mid the Colonies. 

New England at 435,000. Such had been the progress 
of the Church in the face of opposition, that her fold now 
embraced nearly a tenth part of the New-Englanders, 
or about forty thousand. The causes which led to this 
remarkable reaction will be explained in another 
chapter. 

It is to be noticed that just before the conclusion of 
the century, viz. in 1697, William Penn, improving on 
the idea suggested by the New England confederacy, 
proposed an annual Congress of all the provinces on the 
continent of America, with power to regulate commerce.* 
It will be seen how Franklin in the following age took 
up the idea, gave it a definite form, and endued it with 
vitality. 

* Bancroft, iv. p. 125. 



American Character. 59 



CHAP. III. 

THE CHURCH AND THE COLONIES 

(continued). 

FORMATION OF THE AMERICAN CHARACTER. — SLAVERY. ANTIPATHY 

BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH. — RISE OF THE SOCIETY FOR PROPAGAT- 
ING THE GOSPEL. PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND. — 

APPROACHING INDEPENDENCE OF THE COLONIES. HOSTILITIES IN 

AMERICA. COLONEL WASHINGTON. — CONGRESS OF ALBANY. — DEFEAT 

OF BRADDOCK. WAR WITH FRANCE. REVERSES OF THE BRITISH. — 

THEIR FINAL SUCCESS. THE ACQUISITION OF CANADA AND THE VALLEY 

OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 

N the former half of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, infant America already exhibited 
most of the features of character which 
we behold in a more developed state at 
the present time. As a general rule, 
aristocracy had little or no root in the soil. In the 
south, indeed, the landowners, dwelling apart and sur- 
rounded by their black and white dependents, occupied 
a position in some measure corresponding with that of 
country gentlemen in England. But in the middle, 
and especially in the northern, colonies, nearly every 
man was engaged in the labours of agriculture or trade. 
Here the manners of the people were, to a great 
extent, those of the industrious classes in the "old 




60 The Church and the Colonies. 

country," with the addition of the acuteness and inde- 
pendence which grew out of their new circumstances. 
Questions of politics and government deeply interested 
them. The first emigrants had been accustomed to take 
part in public affairs, even before they left England. 
They had been engaged in elections, in trials by jury, 
in matters involving freedom of the person and of 
speech. They had carried their habits of thinking and 
acting on these subjects to the new country, which 
afforded many opportunities for their exercise. Mo- 
narchy was, in a great measure, an abstraction ; a wide 
and stormy ocean intervening between the sovereign 
and his western subjects. No Prince of Wales traversed 
the wilds, diffusing, as he went, agreeable notions of 
royalty. There were few objects on which the natural 
loyalty of the heart could fix itself, although no doubt 
some of the colonial governors did their best to repre- 
sent absent majesty. The government of the country, 
so far as it practically affected the daily life of the 
people, was conducted by a class of persons who, with 
all their shrewdness and common sense, were no more 
calculated to awaken feelings of veneration than the 
managers of the trading corporations from whom they 
had politically descended. Slavery was, in 1754, pro- 
portionately more diffused than at present ; the northern 
and middle colonies being involved in it as well as those 
of the south, and the slaves being a sixth of the whole 
population, instead of an eighth as in 1860. Even at 
that period there was a "fugitive slave law," which 
allowed persons pursuing fugitive coloured slaves to 



North and South. 61 

wound or even to kill them.* With the exception of 
the position of the African race, the general aspect of 
things must have resembled that which prevails in 
Canada, New Brunswick, or Nova Scotia. It might 
have been predicted that if such colonies should by 
any event be separated from the mother-country, they 
would almost necessarily become a republic, or a collec- 
tion of republics, the elements of that system of govern- 
ment being alone at hand and available. It was plain, 
also, that if such a commonwealth should come into 
being, the religious divisions of the people would render 
a national establishment impossible. 

There were strong antipathies, political as well as 
religious, between the North and the South, which, 
together with diversity of interests, would evidently 
place great difficulties in the way of a general and per- 
manent legislative union. A new and important ele- 
ment in society was also now at work, which, though 
contributing to the diffusion of intelligence, assisted in 
giving point to all matters of controversy. With the 
eighteenth century the periodical press began to exer- 
cise its influence, and the first American newspaper, 
the "Boston News-Letter," was commenced in 1704. 
Another paper was set on foot in 1719, and in the same 
year a third appeared in Philadelphia. The "New 
England Courant" was next published by James 
Franklin in 1721, assisted by his brother Benjamin as 
an apprentice. The talents of the latter contributed 

* Bancroft, ii. p. 193. 



62, The Church and the Colonies. 

greatly to the success of the paper, until, wishing for 
greater liberty of the press than was permitted in New 
England, he quitted that country, and commenced his 
remarkable career at Philadelphia. 

While the North still remained essentially Puritan 
and republican, the South continued to pray fervently 
for the king according to the liturgy. But dissenting 
opposition had so far prevailed with the government of 
England, that, notwithstanding the earnest petitions of 
churchmen, bishops were still withheld. As a necessary 
consequence the Church continued weak, while, virtually, 
every form of sectarianism was encouraged. Episcopal 
ordination formed no part of the system of the Congre- 
gational, Presbyterian, Quaker, Dutch-reformed, or 
Baptist sects, which, consequently, were able to multiply 
their ministers without restraint. Many well-disposed 
young men, originally members of the Church, being 
unable to bear the cost of a journey to England, re- 
ceived dissenting ordination, and assisted in weakening 
that mother whom they would otherwise have sus- 
tained. Of those who crossed the Atlantic to receive 
the imposition of the Bishop of London's hands, a fifth 
part died at sea or by disease. Many of the English 
clergy sent out to the southern colonies were men of 
little or no reputation, who disgraced their sacred call- 
ing by their conduct, while at the same time they were 
beyond the reach of effective discipline. For a whole 
century the most earnest and piteous entreaties for 
bishops crossed the Atlantic, but the mother-country, 
from a narrow and mistaken policy, continued deaf to 



Petitions for Bishops. 6 



D 



the wishes of her most loyal children. The Church, 
therefore, remained in an incomplete state, and was 
denied the liberty of expansion allowed to all other 
religious bodies. We need not, therefore, be sur- 
prised to learn, that when, in 1745, it was decided 
that the English Act of Toleration extended to Vir- 
ginia, Presbyterianism arose and flourished in that 
colon} 7 .* The same was the case elsewhere ; and before 
the Kevolution the Church found herself in a minority, 
even in places where she had formerly reigned 
supreme. 

Other nations had not been so supine as England in 
establishing their Church in their colonies. As early as 
1649, the Spanish Church in America is estimated to 
have had 1 patriarch, 6 archbishops, 32 bishops, 346 
prebends, 2 abbots, 5 royal chaplains, and 840 convents, 
besides a vast number of parish priests and mission- 
aries, f But circumstances, as the Bishop of Oxford 
reminds us J, had led England to neglect in this respect 
her duty to her transatlantic dominions. The first 
colonies of conformists were settled by private adven- 
turers, and their continued existence was long doubtful. 
They had no sooner gained some strength than the king 
resumed the charters he had given, and they fell under 
the influence of courtiers who felt no interest in the 
extension of the Eeformed Church. Then followed the 
troubles of King Charles's reign, and the overthrow of 



* Hoffman, p. 21. 

f Bishop of Oxford's " American Church," p. 148. j Ibid. 



64 The Church and the Colonies. 

the altar and the throne. Charles II. was a concealed 
Papist, and James II. an avowed one ; after which the 
temper of those who conducted public affairs under the 
reign of William III. prevented the friends of episcopacy 
from taking the necessary steps. Indeed, the send- 
ing of bishops into colonies, some of which had been 
founded by dissenters, would have been most distasteful 
to that large party at home which William sedulously 
courted. Queen Anne's accession promised better 
things ; but when the appointment of four American 
bishops appeared certain, her death frustrated the hopes 
of churchmen. In the reign of Greorge I. further dis- 
couragements followed ; early neglect had made the 
line of duty more difficult than ever, and the great 
object remained unaccomplished. 

The Bishop of London was considered, in virtue of 
his office, the bishop of the colonies.* This authority 
seems to have originated, not in any express law or 
order, but in the request made by the Virginia Com- 
pany with regard to the appointment of their first 
clergy. As early as 1685, Dr. Blair acted as the bishop's 
commissary in Virginia. He zealously discharged his 
office during fifty-three years, and succeeded in esta- 
blishing "William and Mary" College, the second 
institution of the kind founded in the country, Harvard 
College, near Boston, being the first. Subsequently 
Dr. Bray was appointed commissary in Maryland, 
where the mass of people were now Protestants, and 

r 

* Bishop of Oxford's " American Church," p. 135. 



Commlfsaries. 65 



where the Church of England had obtained almost 
the position of an establishment. He commenced his 
labours in 1700, and displayed a zeal and an activity 
which under God would have wrought great results had 
he been a colonial bishop. He met with great opposition, 
and his stay was but short; nevertheless, the Church 
made some progress, and a large majority of the colony, 
now increased to 30,000, was considered to belong to 
her communion. The opposition of the legislature 
defeated the efforts of the succeeding commissaries to 
restore discipline, and in consequence the Baptists and 
other dissenters extended their influence in the colony. 
Commissaries were also appointed for several other 
colonies : namely, Johnson for South Carolina in 1707 ; 
Vesey for New York in 1713; and Henderson and 
Wilkinson for Maryland in 1716. But a new and im- 
portant ally had now come into the field in the Society 
for Propagating the Gospel, an institution which, like 
the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, owed 
its existence in a great measure to the labours of Dr 
Bray. In the language of the charter, it was esta- 
blished, " for the receiving and managing of such funds 
as might be contributed for the religious instruction of 
his Majesty's subjects beyond the seas ; for the main- 
tenance of clergymen in the plantations, colonies and 
factories of Great Britain ; and for the general propaga- 
tion of the Gospel." In the words of an American 
writer, Judge Hoffman, "the story of its abundant 
labours and countless blessings is a proper theme for 
the historian ; and when from the altars of the American 

F 



66 The Church and the Colonies. 

Church the utterance of praise and prayer arises in the 
stately and flowing language of the liturgy of Edward, 
let us remember that chiefly to that Society we owe the 
inappreciable gift." * 

The Society was careful in the choice of its mission- 
aries, who were generally men of excellent character, 
and well acquainted with the principles of their own 
Church and the right way of defending them. In the 
first instance it deputed the Eev. Greorge Keith (a con- 
vert from Quakerism, who had formerly resided in 
Pennsylvania), to travel over and preach in the several 
governments in British America. He sailed from Eng- 
land in 1702, and in two years returned home and 
gave an account of his lab ours, f 

He went over all the colonies between North Carolina 
and the river Piscataqua, in New England, extending 
eight hundred miles in length. He preached usually 
twice on Sundays, besides week days, the people gene- 
rally showing a good disposition to profit by his teach- 
ing. His labours were most successful in Pennsylvania, 
the Jerseys, Long Island, and New York. He found a 
numerous congregation of Church people at Phila- 
delphia, where more than five hundred Quakers had 
been baptized. Mr. Keith himself and his associate 
baptized in the course of this journey at least two 
hundred persons of that sect. In Pennsylvania there 
w r ere now two Church of England congregations, besides 

* Hoffman, p. 25. 

f Humphrey's " History of the Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel." 



Mifsionaries. 6y 



that in Philadelphia. At Burlington, in New Jersey, 
he met with good success, and was the means of 
strengthening a congregation lately formed. The 
" Foxian Quakers," seceders from the old party, in many 
places allowed him to address their meetings, but 
appeared, in their zeal for the inward light, to be 
fast losing all sense of Christianity. Often, instead 
of showing him kindness, they used much reviling 
language towards him, and continued "obstinately 
attached to their own notions." In various parts of 
New England he found, not only many people well 
affected to the Church who had no clergymen, but 
several of the Puritan or Congregational ministers de- 
sirous of episcopal ordination, and ready to embrace 
the Church worship. In concluding his narrative, Mr. 
Keith represented to the Society the want of a great 
number of ministers for a people dispersed over such 
large countries. The Society proceeded to act ac- 
cording to his recommendations as far as the slender 
means of a voluntary association at that date would 
permit. 

There are some who imagine that clergymen 
appointed to new stations among persons of English 
descent ought to be regarded as chaplains or parochial 
clergy rather than as "missionaries." It should, how- 
ever, be borne in mind that although such pastors may 
be engaged rather with white men and nominal Chris- 
tians than with absolute pagans, their difficulties are 
often not less than those of the propagators of Chris- 
tianity among Hindoos or Africans. Bishop Berkeley, 

F 2 



68 The Church and the Colonies. 

who spent several years of his valuable life in America, 
says : — " There was but little sense of religion, and a 
most notorious corruption of manners, in the English 
colonies settled on the continent of America." Half 
the people of South Carolina were living " regardless 
of any religion," and the same might no doubt be 
said with truth of other colonies. The aboriginal in- 
habitants in many districts had been nearly destroyed, 
not only in war, but by the diseases and vices intro- 
duced by Europeans. Those who had taken possession 
of their wide lands, so far as they had any religion at 
all, were divided into various sects and parties, many of 
which regarded the Church of England with extreme 
bitterness and hostility. There were deep forests for 
the missionaries to penetrate, there were wide rivers 
and swamps to be crossed, long and painful journeys to 
be undertaken. These earnest men were often exposed 
to the extremes of an American climate without ade- 
quate shelter, and while, bearing witness to the truth 
they often met with rude contradiction and abuse. 
A large party in Massachusetts, headed by Mayhew, a 
bitter Puritan, sought to excite the public mind against 
them as the agents of a society which had no legal 
right to appoint missionaries in the villages and sea- 
ports of New England. Yet they persevered with the 
spirit of martyrs, and met with a degree of success for 
which America has good reason to bless their memories. 
In 1725 they had increased to 36, in 1750 to 70, and 
the largest number ever maintained by the Society in 
the old colonies was 101. It is computed that one 



Mifsionaries. 69 



of their number, the Rev. C. Hall, baptized not less 
than ten thousand persons.* 

In reading over the abstracts of the Society's pro- 
ceedings above a century ago, we are struck by the 
amount of labour performed, and of substantial good 
accomplished. The negroes and the remnants of the 
Indian tribes received an equal share of attention with 
the settlers of European origin. The Rev. Mr. Auch- 
muty, for example, the Society's catechist in the 
city of New York, informs his employers in 1750 
that he had baptized 25 negro infants and 8 adults. 
So also the Eev. Mr. Ogilvie, of Albany, states that 
" besides reading prayers and preaching twice on 
Sundays, he read prayers and catechised on Wed- 
nesdays near 50 white children ; and as many negroes 
appeared desirous of instruction, he catechised them 
on Sundays in the afternoon after Divine service. 
On the 5th of June he went up to the Indians 
with the interpreber of the province, and was met 
by two of the principal sachems, who congratulated 
him on his arrival, and expressed great thankfulness to 
the Society for sending him to them." In the same 
annual report I find the following notice: — "The 
Society desire their friends in America to be. so just to 
them, when any person appears there in the character 
of a clergyman of the Church of England, but by 
his behaviour disgraces that character, as to examine as 
far as may be his letters of orders, his name and cir- 

* S. P. G. Report, 1750. 
S 3 



Jo The Church and the Colonies. 

cumstances, and to inspect the public list of the 
names of the missionaries of this Society, published 
annually with the abstract of their proceedings ; and 
the Society are fully persuaded it will appear that such 
unworthy person came thither without their knowledge. 
But if it should happen that any such should come 
thither from them, they entreat their friends in 
America, in the sacred name of Christ, to inform them, 
and they will put away from them that wicked 
person." 

The labours of a charitable society, England's oldest 
missionary society now in existence, gave a character 
to the American Church which it had failed to derive 
from the establishments of the south. Although bishops 
were still withheld, encouragement appeared in a quar- 
ter where it might have been little expected. The 
Puritans in New England actually began to turn to the 
Church in considerable numbers. They had found by 
experience the evils of their own system, and some of 
their best men, after careful study, now desired to 
build upon the old foundations which their forefathers 
had abandoned. Ehode Island, too, distracted by reli- 
gious divisions, became a scene of most successful labour 
to our missionaries. 

In 1723 a treatise favourable to episcopacy was 
published by a Mr. Checkley in Massachusetts. For 
this he was arrested as a libeller and a disturber of the 
public peace. He was obliged to pay a fine of 501. 
and bound over in recognisances for six months. But 
during the same year several distinguished Puritan 



Puritans become Churchmen. 



divines, Cutler, a rector of Yale College in Connecticut, 
Brown, a tutor in the same establishment, and two of 
the neighbouring ministers, declared for episcopacy, an 
event which filled the minds of the Independents with 
" apprehension and gloom." The celebrated Cotton 
Mather, who still retained great influence among the 
Puritans, attempted to induce the legislature of Massa- 
chusetts to assemble a large convention to ascertain 
what might be " the most evangelical and effectual 
expedient to put a stop unto these or the like mis- 
carriages." Checkley however succeeded, notwithstand- 
ing many hindrances, in obtaining holy orders from the 
Bishop of Exeter in 1739. In the sixtieth year of 
his age he commenced his career as missionary in 
Ehode Island, where he did valuable service dur- 
ing fourteen years. Sixteen years before that date, 
Cutler and one of his companions, Johnson, had 
been ordained to the priesthood in England, Brown 
having fallen a victim to the small-pox after coming to 
this country. Cutler received a doctor's degree in 
England, and settled in Boston, where he maintained to 
the last the standard of the faith, amidst incessant per- 
secutions. Johnson laboured patiently and earnestly 
for half a century among the oppressed churchmen at 
Stratford, in Connecticut, with the exception of nine 
years, during which he presided over King's College at 
New York. Through his efforts churchmen continued 
to increase in numbers, though obliged to pay heavy 
taxes for the support of Puritan preachers, and for 
the erection of Puritan meeting-houses. Opposition 

F 4 



7 2 The Church and the Colonies, 

did not extinguish the principles of the Anglican Ee- 
formation, which advanced with a progress all the more 
certain because it was the result of sober examination 
and sincere conviction. 

Many an honest farmer, many an intelligent trades- 
man or mechanic, now recognised in the Eeformed 
Catholic Church a " pillar and ground of truth," and 
wondered at the madness of his ancestors who had 
destroyed the peace of England because they would 
not, as Southey says, kneel at the communion, tolerate 
the surplice, or use the finest liturgy that was ever 
composed. Mr. Johnson was enabled to write : — " We 
see the success of our labours in the frequent conver- 
sion of dissenting teachers in this country, and the 
good disposition towards the excellent constitution of 
our Church growing amongst the people wherever the 
Society have settled their missions." One of Johnson's 
converts was a learned Congregational divine, Mr. 
Beach, who, with a large proportion of his flock, came 
over to the Church, and was afterwards ordained in 
London as one of the Society's missionaries. Before 
the outbreak of the Eevolution, there were in Connec- 
ticut alone seventy-three Church congregations, three 
more than Virginia itself possessed in 1722. 

There were even endowments in New England, some 
of which the Church retains to the present day. When, 
in 1741, New Hampshire with Vermont came under 
the government of Wentworth, a loyal churchman, it 
was determined that some provision should be made 
for the Church out of the wild and unoccupied lands in 



Endowments. J$ 



Vermont then about to be surveyed. Accordingly the 
country was divided into grants or townships of about 
six miles square, in each of which one seventieth part, 
or about 330 acres, was reserved for "the first settled 
minister of the Gospel," one share of equal size for 
the Church of England, and a third for the Society 
for Propagating the Grospel. Although 114 of these 
grants were made, the surveyors, being hostile to 
the Church, exerted themselves to render ecclesias- 
tical property as useless as possible. They sometimes 
managed that the glebe allotments and those for the 
Society should overlap or cover one another ; and often 
the share of the Church was placed, with a perverse 
ingenuity, at the bottom of a lake or marsh, amidst 
barren rocks, or on the side of a precipice. Still there 
was of course some good land, and a considerable quan- 
tity not altogether worthless. 

But while the missionaries of the Society were at work 
and the Church was advancing in favour and prosperity, 
political affairs gave indications of approaching changes. 
As early as 1701, a public document declared that the 
independence desired by the colonies was notorious. 
In 1703 it was said: — "Commonwealth notions im- 
prove daily, and if they be not checked in time the 
rights and privileges of English subjects will be thought 
too narrow." In 1705 it was stated in print that 
"The colonists will in process of time cast off their 
allegiance to England, and set up a government of 
their own." " Some great men professed their belief 
of the feasibleness of it, and the probability of its 



74 The Church and the Colonies. 

some time or other actually coming to pass." * As 
a general rule, however, this tendency towards inde- 
pendence was rather an instinct than a desire. The 
colonists looked round on the wide territory which as 
yet they had but partially occupied. They saw its 
vast rivers and lakes, its capacious harbours, its fruitful 
soil, and they perceived its capability of maintaining 
a population far greater than that of England. Know- 
ing the rate of their increase, they considered that in 
the course of a hundred years they would be numeri- 
cally stronger than the mother-country, and that the 
dependence of a continent on a remote island must 
therefore sooner or later terminate. 

As time advanced, circumstances contributed to give 
additional clearness to their half-formed ideas. The 
restrictions imposed by the laws of England on their 
commerce and manufactures were plainly an obstacle 
in the way of their prosperity. In some minds there 
was a constant fear lest the Church party should suc- 
ceed in completing the fabric of American episcopacy 
and should get up an aggressive hierarchy. The colo- 
nial governors by no means fulfilled the wishes of 
the people. Although dependent for their allowances 
on the votes of the respective colonies, they were often 
entire strangers to the people whom they had been 
sent to govern. In many cases they had accepted 
office in America merely to retrieve their broken 
fortunes, and it was asserted that their desire for the 

* Bancroft, iii. p. 108. 



Approaching Independence. J 5 

public good was commonly made subordinate to motives 
of self-interest. 

Boston contained twenty thousand inhabitants in the 
middle of the century*, and as the management of 
its affairs devolved on the people assembled in town- 
meeting, it already constituted a democracy by itself. 
Here Mayhew taught in reference to the Stamp Act 
proposed in England for the colonies, that if the 
common safety and utility would not be promoted by 
submission to government, disobedience would become 
a duty. At the same time New Jersey was in a state 
of disaffection and manifested a disposition to revolt f ; 
while the " House of Burgesses " in Virginia was in (i a 
republican way of thinking." A few years afterwards the 
members of both houses in New Hampshire, now a 
colony by itself, are described by their governor as 
being commonwealth men ; and in North Carolina the 
governor complained that the republican assembly 
would not submit to his instructions. 

Different plans were proposed for meeting this grow- 
ing spirit of insubordination. Some were for overawing 
the colonial assemblies by military power; while 
others proposed to render the governors independent 
of colonial supplies, and dependent only on the Crown. 
In America the idea began to gain ground that an 
American constitution and parliament ought to be 
established, from which the defects of the English 
system of government should be excluded. In England 

* Bancroft, iii. p. 39. t Ibid. 



j6 The Church and the Colonies. 

the question was asked, " When have colonies a right 
to be released from the dominion of the parent state ? " 
There were thoughtful persons who replied, "When- 
ever they are so increased in numbers and strength as 
to be sufficient by themselves for all the good ends of a 
political union." * As it seemed probable that this state 
of things was near at hand in our American colonies, it 
was even proposed in 1756 that the Duke of Cumber- 
land should be appointed their sovereign, and that they 
should be made independent at once. 

Hitherto the grand obstacle in the way of their 
independence was their want of union, arising from 
the circumstances of their early settlement and the 
antipathies existing between North and South. But 
the progress of events now taught the people how to 
combine, and showed them the actual amount of their 
strength. 

The power of France in America was at this time 
considerable. The French had settled Quebec in 
1608, and their missionaries and fur traders had ex- 
plored the great West. From Canada they had pushed 
forward their settlements and military stations to the 
Lakes, to Illinois, and to Michigan, and thence descend- 
ing the Mississippi, they had laid the foundation of New 
Orleans in the region afterwards denominated from 
their sovereign, Louisiana. The territory claimed by 
France was twenty times as large as that of the 
English colonies, and covered four-fifths of the North 

* Bancroft, ir. p. 181. 



Designs of the French. yy 

American continent. Over this vast extent there 
roamed numerous tribes of Indians, generally in alli- 
ance or at peace with France ; while those denominated 
the " Five Nations " were almost the only allies of 
England. The French in America were in number 
little more than a twentieth of the English, and in 
1735, when we counted above a million of colonists, they 
could reckon only 52,000. But their influence over 
the savage tribes rendered them dangerous neighbours, 
and long prevented our people from forming settle- 
ments beyond the ridge of the Alleghany or Apalachian 
mountains. To dispossess France of her American 
possessions was an object popular alike with the Vir- 
ginians and the New Englanders. If this point could 
be gained, the savage tribes would be less formidable, 
and the English race would be enabled to settle quietly 
in the magnificent region watered by the Mississippi 
and its branches, and covering a million of square 
miles. 

Aware of this feeling on the part of the English, the 
French conceived the design of erecting a chain of forts 
connecting Canada with Louisiana. In pursuance of this 
plan they erected a fort within the territory claimed 
by Virginia in the valley of the Ohio, and committed 
various aggressions on the English who had already at- 
tempted settlements in the neighbourhood. Complaints 
were made to Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, who laid 
the subject before the Assembly, and sent an envoy to 
the French commander on the Ohio, demanding a 
reason for his hostile proceedings in a time of peace, 



J 8 The Church and the Colonies, 

and requesting him to withdraw his troops. This envoy 
was none other than the celebrated Greorge Washington, 
at that time (1753) twenty-one years of age. The 
distance was above four hundred miles, and much of 
the route was through a wilderness occupied by hostile 
Indians. The journey occupied six weeks, and was per- 
formed partly on horseback and partly on foot, with an 
interpreter, a guide, and four attendants. On his way, 
Washington came to the place where the Alleghany 
river, by its confluence with the Monongahela, forms 
the Ohio. At once he foresaw the destiny of the place. 
The land at the " Fork," as it was called, had the com- 
mand of both rivers, and the flat, well-timbered land 
around lay convenient for building. Hence he pro- 
ceeded to Fort Le Boeuf, and, after encountering many 
perils, brought back a message from the French com- 
mander to the effect that he acted under orders, that 
he was responsible only to his general, then in Canada, 
and that he proposed to seize every English intruder 
within the valley of the Ohio. 

This answer led to forcible measures for the expul- 
sion of the French from the disputed territory. The 
Ohio Company, founded in 1749 under royal authority, 
agreed to build a fort at the Fork, in accordance with 
Washington's advice, and the work was commenced 
early in 1754. The French, however, attacked the 
post, and, having compelled the English to withdraw, 
completed the fortification and named it " Du Quesne," 
from the governor of "New France," as the vast 
French possessions in America were then denominated. 



Congrefs at Albany. yg 

Washington, now a lieutenant-colonel, was sent again 
to the West to cooperate with troops already assembled 
there. While on the way with a detachment of forty 
men, he encountered and defeated a party of French. 
But as the British forces approached Fort Du Quesne, 
they were attacked by a superior force of French and 
Indians, and, after a contest of nine hours, terms of 
capitulation were agreed on. The French consented to 
return to their fort, and the English were allowed to 
retreat quietly to Virginia. In the whole valley of the 
Mississippi, and from Quebec to New Orleans, no stan- 
dard floated but that of France.* 

The British government now perceived that their 
occupancy of the western country must either be 
abandoned or maintained by the sword. Preparations 
were immediately made in England for active warfare, 
and the Secretary of State wrote to the governors of 
the different American colonies recommending united 
action, and urging them to secure the friendship of the 
Indian tribes known hitherto as the "Five," but, 
after the admission of the Tuscaroras, as the "Six 
Nations." 

Accordingly, in the summer of 1754, there assembled 
at Albany a " Congress " of commissioners from all the 
northern and middle colonies, Virginia being represented 
by the lieutenant-governor of New York. A treaty was 
effected with the Six Nations, and a committee chosen 



* Bancroft, iy. p. 121. 



80 The Church and the Colonies. 

to form a plan of perpetual union. In this committee 
the celebrated Benjamin Franklin appeared, and it was 
his scheme which was finally adopted. The seat of the 
proposed federal government was to be Philadelphia, 
where delegates chosen by their respective legislatures 
were to assemble from all the colonies. A president of 
this council was to be appointed by the Crown, with 
power to place a negative on the proceedings. The 
delegates were to be not fewer than two, nor more than 
seven, from every colony, according to the proportion 
of the respective contributions. Each colony was to 
retain its domestic constitution, while the federal 
government was to regulate the relations of peace or 
war with the Indians, affairs of trade, and purchases of 
lands not within the bounds of particular colonies, to 
raise soldiers, to equip vessels of war, and levy taxes. 
The members were to be elected triennially, and 
the council was to meet once a year. After much 
debate, this measure, in which we may see the germs 
of the present confederacy, was adopted by the com- 
missioners. 

We are told that as Franklin descended the Hudson 
on his way to New York at the close of the Albany 
congress, the people thronged about him to welcome 
him ; and he who had first entered their city as a run- 
away printer's apprentice, was revered as the mover of 
American union.* 

The system, however, was acceptable neither to 

* Bancroft, iv. p. 125. 



Braddock's Expedition. 8 1 

the American people nor to the government at home. 
The colonies were too much attached to their indi- 
vidual liberties to allow of an overruling central power, 
while in England the plan appeared to be a certain 
step towards American independence. 

A plan of union was now proposed in England.* A 
certain and permanent revenue was to be raised, the 
amount of which was to be determined by a meeting of 
commissioners, one from each colony. In electing the 
commissioners, the council of each colony, though 
appointed by royal authority, was to have a negative on 
the votes of the assembly, and the royal governor was to 
have a negative on both. Seven commissioners were to 
be a quorum, and a majority of these, with the king's 
approbation, were to control the continent. The execu- 
tive department was to be held by a commander-in- 
chief, who was to draw for his expenses on the treasuries 
of the several colonies. This plan, as might be ex- 
pected, was still less acceptable to the colonists than 
the former, and it was never carried into effect. Both 
schemes having failed, it was now resolved to carry on 
the war by British troops, with such reinforcements as 
could be raised in the colonies, the population of which 
now amounted to a million and a half. 

Early in 1755, although war had not been declared 
between France and England, General Braddock was 
sent to America with a considerable force to protect 
the frontier. The governors of the several provinces 

* Bancroft, it. p. 166. 

a 



8 2, The Church and the Colonies. 

were convened to make arrangements for the campaign. 
It was decided that three expeditions should be under- 
taken: one against Fort Du Quesne, commanded by 
Braddock, aided by the provincial militia of Virginia 
and Maryland; another against Forts Niagara and 
Frontenac, situated at the two extremities of Lake 
Ontario ; and a third against Crown Point and Ticon- 
deroga, two strong French stations about fifteen miles 
apart, near the southern extremity of Lake Champlain. 
Having appointed Washington his aide-de-camp, 
Braddock, after many delays, set out with twenty-two 
hundred men, and pursued his march through the 
woods and over the mountains in the direction of Fort 
Du Quesne. He had often been warned against sur- 
prises; and now Washington, who was familiar with 
the mode of French and Indian warfare, requested to 
be permitted to search the forest in advance with his 
Virginian rangers. But Braddock, who had been 
educated in the art of war as taught in Europe, 
haughtily rejected the advice of a provincial officer, and 
the result was that which might have been expected. 
While marching in advance with twelve hundred 
troops, and within a few miles of the fort, he was 
attacked, after crossing the Monongahela, by an unseen 
foe concealed by rocks, trees, and underwood. After a 
contest of three hours Braddock fell mortally wounded, 
the greater part of the officers and men were killed, 
and the remainder took to flight. Washington, whose 
life had been wonderfully preserved, rallied the provin- 
cial troops, and, after burying the unfortunate general, 



Expulsion of the Acadians. 83 

retreated to the eastward. The French and Indians 
now had the complete ascendency, and the English 
settlements west of the mountains were abandoned. 

The two northern expeditions, though less disas- 
trous, were both unsuccessful. That against Niagara, 
under General Shirley, was delayed by heavy rains and 
other causes until the season became too far advanced 
to proceed. A fort was however built at Oswego, on 
Lake Ontario, and garrisoned with 500 men. The 
force designed for the capture of the fortress at Crown 
Point was composed of provincial troops under General 
Johnson from Connecticut and New Hampshire, who, 
together with their Indian allies, amounted to thirty- 
four hundred men. After meeting with some ill success, 
the American forces succeeded in defeating the enemy, 
but the capture of Crown Point and Ticonderoga was 
not accomplished. 

Meantime the people of Massachusetts had raised 
nearly eight thousand men, and attacked the French 
settlers of Acadia or Nova Scotia. These quiet and 
amiable people lived happily in the district which 
they had occupied before the landing of the Pilgrims, 
and where they had received Argall's hostile visit in 
1613.* Although by the treaty of Utrecht, Nova Scotia 
had been conceded to Britain, they neither took the oath 
of allegiance to the King of England nor ceased to con- 
sider themselves Frenchmen. By extraordinary efforts 
of industry they had created a little Utopia in a country 

* See p. 7, above. 
G 2 



84 The Church and the Colonies. 

possessing few natural advantages, and their numbers 
had increased to sixteen or seventeen thousand. But 
they were Eoman Catholics and unwarlike, and their 
Puritan invaders, acting under high authority, had 
determined on their utter dispersion. Some fled to 
Quebec, others took refuge in the forests, but nearly 
seven thousand of them were driven on board ships and 
scattered among the English colonies from New Hamp- 
shire to Georgia. Their villages were burnt, their farms 
laid waste, and their country was reduced to a solitude. 
Up to this time, notwithstanding the hostile proceed- 
ings of the colonies, England and France had remained 
at peace. But, in the spring of 1756, war was de- 
clared, and in the summer the British and colonial 
forces in America again experienced bitter reverses. 
The fort lately built at Oswego was taken by the French, 
and the breaking out of small-pox rendered it necessary 
to disperse the provincial troops which had been as- 
sembled. In the following year, a naval expedition, 
which proved unsuccessful, was undertaken against 
Louisburg, on the island of Cape Breton. Fort 
William Henry, on Lake (xeorge, defended by a garrison 
of nearly three thousand men, and covered by an army 
of four thousand under Greneral Webb, fell into the 
hands of the enemy and was demolished. The French, 
with forces numerically far inferior to our own, every- 
where gained the advantage. The lakes between the 
Hudson river and Canada were in their possession, as 
well as the great lakes Ontario and Erie, and the rivers 
Ohio and Mississippi. 



John Adams. 85 



It was therefore most justly apprehended that they 
would make good their claim to the whole region west 
of the Alleghany mountains and Lake Champlain, and 
confine the English settlements to the borders of the 
Atlantic. The colonists were becoming dissatisfied, 
attributing their losses to mismanagement on the part 
of English officers, and to the subordinate position 
which the provincial officers were made to occupy not- 
withstanding their superior local knowledge. Already 
John Adams, then a poor young schoolmaster at Wor- 
cester in Massachusetts, was meditating on the growing 
union of the colonies, on their resources, and on their 
advancing population. He reckoned that, if only the 
French could be put down, the Americans would soon 
be so powerful that all Europe could not subdue them. 
In less than thirty years from that time, John Adams 
was himself the envoy of independent America to the 
King of Great Britain.* 

The British government was now seriously alarmed ; 
and William Pitt having been placed at the head of a 
new ministry, it was hoped that past losses would be 
repaired. In the summer of 1757, General Aber- 
crombie, commander-in-chief of the British forces in 
America, was at the head of fifty thousand men, of 
whom twenty thousand were provincials. Great efforts 
were made to induce the colonists to unite for the com- 
mon safety, and treaties of alliance were formed with 
various Indian tribes whose friendship hitherto had 

* Bancroft, iv. p. 216. 

G S 



86 The Church and the Colonies. 

been doubtful. The British fleets blocked up the ports 
of France, or captured at sea the men and stores 
designed for Canada. The brave but unhappy Canadians 
were thus cut off from intercourse with their mother- 
country, while British America was not only powerful in 
itself, but strengthened by an unbroken communication 
with England. Three expeditions were again under- 
taken: one against Louisburg, another against Crown 
Point and its neighbour Ticonderoga, and the third 
against Fort Du Quesne. In the siege of Louisburg, 
at which General Wolfe became conspicuous, fourteen 
thousand men, twenty ships of the line, and eighteen 
frigates were engaged for nearly two months, when the 
fortress was surrendered, and the trophies were sent 
home to be deposited in St. Paul's Cathedral. 

For the attack on Ticonderoga and Crown Point, 
both on Lake Greorge, there assembled an army of above 
fifteen thousand men. Of these more than half were 
provincials, comprising six hundred New England 
rangers, dressed like woodmen, each armed with a fire- 
lock and hatchet, with a powder-horn under his arm and 
a leather bag for bullets at his waist ; while every officer 
was provided with a pocket-compass as a guide in the 
forests. There were also Puritan chaplains, who 
preached to the regiments of citizen-soldiers a renewal 
of the days when Moses sent Joshua against Amalek. 
The regular troops exceeded six thousand, and Aber- 
erombie commanded the entire force. 

Notwithstanding these great preparations, the attack 
on Ticonderoga was unsuccessful, and the general was 



Capture of Fort Du Quesne. 87 

obliged to withdraw before a French force far inferior 
to his own, commanded by the brave and generous 
Montcalm. A detachment of his army, however, pro- 
ceeded under Bradstreet, a provincial officer, against 
Fort Front enac, adjoining the present site of Kingston, 
on Lake Ontario, which fell into their hands and was 
destroyed. 

As for Fort Du Quesne, the opinion had long pre- 
vailed that the frontiers could not be freed from the 
dreadful visits of the Indians in connection with the 
French until the enemy were driven from this important 
post. Accordingly an army of eight thousand men was 
placed under General Forbes, Virginia sending nineteen 
hundred under her beloved Washington. Pennsyl- 
vania, notwithstanding her Quaker origin, was fired 
with unusual military ardour. Benjamin West, after- 
wards the celebrated painter, joined the expedition ; and 
Anthony Wayne, a boy of thirteen, and subsequently 
distinguished in American annals, raised for the expedi- 
tion twenty-seven hundred men. When the army had 
arrived within ninety miles of the fort, a reconnoitring 
party of eight hundred troops was met by a body of 
French and Indians and utterly defeated. Washington, 
who pleaded " a long intimacy with these woods," * was 
now sent forward with a detachment of provincials. 
The garrison at the fort, consisting of only five hundred 
men, saw the hopelessness of resistance, and, setting fire 
to their buildings, escaped down the Ohio to the French 

* Bancroft, iv. p. 310, 
G4 



88 The Church and the Colonies. 

settlements on the Mississippi. On the following day, 
Nov. 25th, 1758, the flag of England was waving on 
the ruined bastions, and the place, then named Fort 
Pitt in honour of the great minister, is now known as 
Pittsburgh, the Birmingham of America. Washington 
then resigned his commission, after receiving from the 
officers who had served under him assurances of regret 
for the loss of " such an excellent commander, such a 
sincere friend, and such an affable companion." Soon 
afterwards he married a lady of large property, and 
lived for some years on his estate at Mount Vernon, 
discharging his duties not only as a member of the 
Virginia legislature, but as a sincere churchman and a 
vestryman of two parishes. He became known as a 
man of sound judgment, exact integrity, and strict 
justice, and though a slave-owner and naturally irritable, 
yet self-constrained and forbearing. Without being him- 
self learned, he advocated the promotion of learning; 
and though not a fluent orator, he spoke to the purpose 
and readily commanded attention. He farmed his large 
estate of several thousand acres with economy and 
profit ; he rose early, kept his own accounts, exercised 
liberal hospitality, and received all the respect due to a 
plain and honest country gentleman. 

In 1759, the year after Washington's retirement, 
"bold measures were taken, and the three strongest holds 
of the French were attacked, Quebec, Niagara, and 
Ticonderoga/ The forts at Ticonderoga and Crown 
Point were deserted on the approach of the British 
forces under General Amherst. Fort Niagara was taken 



Conquest of Canada. 89 



by General Sir William Johnson, and the garrison of 
that important post, which had secured the communica- 
tion between Canada and Louisiana, were carried pri- 
soners to New York. General Wolfe, with an army of 
eight thousand men, proceeded against Quebec, and, 
after meeting some checks, finally succeeded in convey- 
ing his troops unobserved to the heights of the citadel. 
In the engagement which followed, Wolfe himself fell 
in the very moment of victory. The gallant French 
general Montcalm was also mortally wounded, and 
five days afterwards Quebec surrendered. In the fol- 
lowing year Canada became a British province. 

Unbounded triumph and exultation now pervaded 
England and America. Henceforth the great West 
was to be in the hands of the Anglo-Saxon race, to 
which the capture of Quebec was nothing less than 
the opening of a continent. 



go The Church and the Colonies. 



CHAP. IV. 

THE CHURCH AND THE COLONIES 

(concluded), 

ENGLISH PLAN FOR TAXING THE COLONIES. — THE " STAMP ACT" CON- 
GRESS. BOSTON OCCUPIED BY THE KING'S TROOPS. — PROGRESS OF 

DISCONTENT. SERMON OF THE BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. — CANADA PRO- 
PITIATED. — CONGRESS AT PHILADELPHIA. BATTLE OF LEXINGTON. 

CONGRESS PETITIONS FOR REDRESS. EXPEDITION TO CANADA. 

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. — CHARACTER AND PROGRESS OF THE 
REVOLUTIONARY -WAR.— SURRENDER OF LORD CORNWALLIS. ACKNOW- 
LEDGMENT OF INDEPENDENCE. — CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 
— SUFFERINGS OF THE LOYAL CLERGY DURING THE WAR. CONFISCA- 
TION OF CHURCH PROPERTY AND RUIN OF THE CHURCHES. 

HEN the war with France was thus 
brought to a successful termination, the 
colonists were not only strongly attached 
to the mother-country, but more united 
among themselves than at any former 
period of their history. The expenses of the contest 
had, however, been enormous, and it was thought in 
England that the Americans, now rapidly increasing 
in wealth and population, ought to be required to 
sustain a portion of the burden. 

In 1760, the year after the capture of Quebec, 
Greorge III. came to the throne, and in the following 




The Stamp Act. gt 

year William Pitt, the tried friend of America, resigned 
his power. Four years afterwards a hill was carried 
through Parliament imposing additional duties on the 
trade of the colonists, and it was also resolved that 
stamp duties should be imposed on all their law docu- 
ments, leases, contracts, bills of sale, notes of hand, 
newspapers, and pamphlets. The Americans, on the 
other hand, set forth that by their early charters the 
rights of English subjects had been secured to them, 
and that among those rights none was more valued 
than that which secured them from taxation, unless by 
their own consent expressed through their representa- 
tives. It was also urged that the domestic govern- 
ments in America were supported wholly at the expense 
of the colonists, that they had already paid their full 
proportion of the war expenses, and that, considering 
their means, their burdens were actually greater than 
those of the people of England. The Stamp Act Bill, 
however, became a law in 1765, and immediately a 
flame of indignation pervaded America. A congress 
of delegates, representing nine provinces, and known as 
the Stamp Act Congress, assembled at New York, and, 
after declaring their view of colonial rights, appointed 
special agents to represent their case to the authorities 
in England. At the same time, with the view of de- 
feating the measures of Parliament, it was resolved that 
American manufactures should be encouraged, and that, 
if possible, all business should be suspended in which 
the obnoxious stamps would be required. 

A change of ministry favoured the views of the colo- 



gz The Church and the Colonies. 

nists, and, on the recommendation of William Pitt, the 
Stamp Act was repealed. The joy of the Americans 
was, however, damped by an assertion put forth by 
Parliament of its abstract right to bind the colonies in 
all cases whatsoever. Fresh indignation was aroused 
when an indirect tax was levied upon them by an 
enactment requiring them to furnish quarters for the 
king's troops at their own expense. Under the new 
ministry additional duties were imposed, and strict 
measures were adopted for the collection of the revenue. 
Hostile feelings were now violently excited, and the 
colonial press took an active part in awakening a 
spirit of resistance. The governors, being appointed by 
the Crown, rendered themselves particularly obnoxious 
to the people by the support which they gave to the 
Acts of Parliament. The legislature of Massachusetts 
resolved on addressing a circular to the other colonial 
assemblies urging the importance of united action in 
all efforts to obtain redress. The ministers at home, 
fearing that union would give additional strength and 
confidence to the disaffected party, directed the Gover- 
nor of Massachusetts to call on the legislature to 
rescind their resolution respecting the circular. The 
assembly, by a large majority, refused to agree to this 
order, and was accordingly dissolved. 

Finding that remonstrances were unavailing, the people 
again resolved to encourage domestic industry, and to 
purchase no articles of foreign growth or manufacture 
but such as were absolutely indispensable. In conse- 
quence of riotous proceediugs interfering with the col- 



British Troops hi Boston. g$ 

lection of revenue, four thousand royal troops occupied 
Boston in the latter part of 1768, and Parliament peti- 
tioned the king that persons accused of treason in 
Massachusetts during that year might be sent to Eng- 
land for trial. 

The Assembly of Virginia now came to the rescue of 
Massachusetts, and passed resolutions re-asserting the 
right of the colonists to exemption from parliamentary 
taxation, and further declaring that to send persons to 
be tried in places beyond the sea, where they could not 
produce witnesses or have a jury from their own neigh- 
bourhood, would violate the rights of British subjects. 
These resolutions were forwarded to the other legislative 
bodies, and their concurrence was earnestly solicited. 
The governor now dissolved the assembly, but the 
members met again in a private house, and unanimously 
passed agreements unfavourable to the importation of 
goods from abroad. In the course of a few weeks 
this example was followed by most of the southern 
colonies. 

In 1770, an affray took place between the troops and 
the populace of Boston, in which, after enduring much 
provocation, the soldiers fired and killed four of the 
mob. Meanwhile English commerce began to feel the 
effects of the non-importation agreements, for in a 
single year the exports to America fell from two mil- 
lions and a half sterling to about a million and a half. 
The new ministry under Lord North prevailed on Par- 
liament to withdraw the duties, as "discouraging to 
English manufactures, but to retain the duty on tea, 



94 Tie Church and the Colonies. 

by way of asserting the right of the mother-country to 
the taxation of her foreign possessions. 

The Americans, however, were now united in con- 
tending against this very principle, and although they 
recommenced a brisk trade in other foreign articles, 
they agreed to consume no tea. In 1772, some of the 
people of Ehode Island burned a revenue cutter, and 
were shielded from punishment by their fellow-country- 
men, notwithstanding a reward of 5001. offered for their 
apprehension. The British Government, conceiving 
that, during the present excitement, certain law officers 
of Massachusetts were too dependent on the colony, 
now placed those gentlemen in an independent posi- 
tion by granting them liberal salaries out of the colo- 
nial revenue. Upon this the opposite party appointed 
committees of correspondence, and in 1773, at the 
suggestion of the legislature of Virginia, the several 
colonial assemblies nominated similar committees, by 
means of which an interchange of sentiments was 
kept up by the disaffected throughout the provinces. 
Resistance to the British Parliament completed that 
which the war with French Canada had begun, and 
the thirteen colonies, which formerly had known less 
of one another than of the parent State, were now a 
united people. 

In February, 1773, during the progress of these events, 
a sermon was preached by the Bishop of St. Asaph before 
the Society for Propagating the Grospel, which contained 
some apposite allusions to the state of affairs. " Per- 
haps," said the eloquent prelate, " the annals of history 



Sermon by a Bishop. g$ 

have never afforded a more grateful spectacle to a 
benevolent and philosophic mind than the growth and 
progress of the British colonies in North America. We 
see a number of scattered settlements growing by de- 
grees under the protection of their mother-country, who 
treated them with the indulgence due to their weakness 
and infancy, into little separate commonwealths. Placed 
in a climate that soon became fruitful and healthy by 
their industry, possessing that liberty which was the 
natural growth of their own country, and secured by 
her power against foreign enemies, they seem to have 
been intended as a solitary experiment to instruct the 
world to what improvements and happiness mankind 
will naturally attain when they are suffered to use their 
own prudence in search of their own interest. . . . The 
colonies have not only taken root and acquired strength, 
but seem hastening with an accelerated progress to 
such a powerful state as may introduce a new and im- 
portant change in human affairs. Descended from 
ancestors of the most improved and enlightened part of 
the old world, they receive, as it were by inheritance, 
all the improvements and discoveries of their mother- 
country. And it happens fortunately for them to 
commence their nourishing state at a time when the 
human understanding has attained to the free use of its 
powers and has learned to act with vigour and cer- 
tainty. They may avail themselves not only of the 
experience and industry, but even of the errors and 
mistakes of former days. . . . May the wise and good 
on both sides, without inquiring too curiously into the 



g6 The Church and the Colonies. 

grounds of past animosities, endeavour by all prudent 
means to restore the old public friendship and confi- 
dence which made us great, happy, and victorious." 

At this crisis, however, when wisdom and prudence 
were most necessary, a step was taken by Benjamin 
Franklin, then agent in London for Massachusetts, 
which added fresh fuel to the flame, and threw new diffi- 
culties in the way of reconciliation. By some means, 
said to be not the most honourable, he obtained pos- 
session of some letters, which he promptly despatched 
across the Atlantic to Boston. 

These letters had been written by the Governor of 
Massachusetts and others to their correspondents in 
Parliament, and stated that the opposition was confined 
to a few, and that more vigorous and coercive measures 
ought at once to be taken. They added that the 
people in the colonies ought to be deprived of the 
power of appointing colonial magistrates, and that all 
the high officers of every description should be made 
dependent for their salaries on the Crown. The people 
were now exasperated, and when in the following winter 
some vessels laden with tea arrived in Boston harbour, 
a company of seventeen men, disguised as Indians, 
boarded the vessels, and threw the tea into the water. 

In 1774, the aspect of affairs threatening an appeal 
to arms, the home government took measures for securing 
the attachment of the conquered Canadians. Exten- 
sive powers were conferred on a Canadian Legislative 
Council, the members of which were to be nominated 
by the king : a perfect equality was established between 



A Fast Day Appointed. gy 

the Eoman Catholics and the Protestants, the privileges 
of the clergy were secured, and the existing French laws 
were confirmed. As for the rebellious port of Boston, 
the authorities removed the custom-house to Salem, 
and by the Boston Port Bill forbade the loading or 
unloading of merchant-vessels until good order should 
be restored, and compensation made to the East India 
Company for the tea which had been destroyed. Four 
vessels of war were stationed in the harbour to enforce 
these enactments. The appointment to all important 
offices was given to the king, and it was provided that 
all persons indicted for offences committed in aiding 
the magistrates might be removed to another country, 
or to England, for trial. 

Boston, hitherto prosperous and improving, was now 
in a situation of great distress. But the other colonies 
sympathised with Massachusetts, and gave assurances 
of support, and the first day of June, when the new Act 
of Parliament went into effect, was observed through- 
out the provinces, by common consent, as a public 
and solemn fast. The people generally concurred in 
the proposition for holding a congress, in order to con- 
cert measures for the preservation of their rights. 
Deputies were accordingly appointed by all the colonies 
except Georgia, and the assembly took place on the 5th 
of September, 1774, at Philadelphia. They agreed in 
promising support to the people of Massachusetts, in 
recommending contributions for their relief, and in 
passing resolutions against all commercial intercourse 
with England until their grievances should be redressed. 

H 



98 The Church and the Colonies. 

This meeting gave a tone and character to the 
struggle which followed, and might be considered as the 
first decided pulsation of a national life distinct from 
that of the parent State. Fifty-five delegates were 
present, among whom were some 01* the most eminent 
persons of America. They had the eloquence of Patrick 
Henry, the Virginian, and of the New-Englander, John 
Adams. They had the plain sense of Eoger Sherman, 
of Connecticut, and the tranquil energy of the southern 
gentleman, Greorge Washington. Among them were 
persons of refinement and polish, as well as of rude 
simplicity and stern enthusiasm, but the prevailing 
state of mind was that of firm determination to main- 
tain what they believed to be their rights. Some of 
them may have been insincere in the professions 
which they now made of attachment to the king, and 
in disclaiming a wish for independence. A few of the 
leaders of the party may have been merely acting a 
part which they considered politically expedient; but 
it is certain that as yet the people of America were not 
generally prepared for the steps which were subse- 
quently taken, and that conciliation on the part of the 
mother-country would, for the time, have satisfied their 
wishes.* It is worthy of note that on the 7th of Sep- 
tember the meeting of the Congress was opened with 
prayers according to the Liturgy, and that one of the 
psalms for the day, "Plead thou my cause, Lord, 
with them that strive with me," was regarded almost as 
an oracle from heaven. 

* Bancroft, vii. chap. ii. 



A Crisis Approaching. 99 

The resolutions of this Congress being published in 
England enlisted much feeling in behalf of the Ameri- 
cans, and their old friend William Pitt, then Earl of 
Chatham, strongly commended the dignity, firmness, 
and wisdom with which the Americans had acted. On 
the other hand, George III. declared that the New 
England governments were in a state of rebellion, 
and that blows must decide as to their independence 
or their subjection. The crisis was now rapidly ap- 
proaching. The colonists were embarked in a common 
cause, and throughout the cities and villages of America 
companies of volunteers were organised, gunpowder was 
manufactured, and measures were taken to obtain all 
kinds of military stores. Many persons, however, for 
various reasons, took the part of England in the con- 
troversy, and many on the popular side still hoped that 
a resort to arms might be averted by the adoption of 
conciliatory measures by Parliament. The abstract 
justice of their claim seems to be now admitted, our 
present colonies occupying the same favourable position 
in regard to the mother-country for which the Ameri- 
cans in vain contended. Happy indeed would it have 
been for both parties if, on either side, the point in dis- 
pute could have been conceded, and, at the same time, 
provision made for an ultimate peaceable separation. 
Long years of bloodshed would then have been averted, 
enormous expenses saved, and the growth of bitter 
animosities, which have scarcely yet entirely died away, 
prevented. 

On the 19th of April, 1775, some British troops were 

H 2 



ioo The Church and the Colonies. 

sent from Boston to destroy a quantity of military 
stores which had been collected at Concord, about 
eighteen miles to the westward. While on their way 
they found about seventy provincials under arms, and 
on parade, at Lexington. Major Pitcairn rode up to 
them and said, " Disperse, rebels ; throw down your 
arms and disperse ; " but as the provincials did not 
obey the order, they were fired upon, and seven of their 
number were killed. The British finally effected their 
object, but on their return they were attacked wherever 
an opportunity presented, and before the close of the 
day sixty- five of them had been killed, nearly two 
hundred wounded, and twenty-eight made prisoners. 
Soon afterwards the important fortresses of Crown 
Point and Ticonderoga were surprised by the provin- 
cials, and surrendered without firing a gun. 

On the 10th of May, the Congress again assembled 
at Philadelphia, and petitioned Greorge III. for a redress 
of grievances, at the same time deciding on further 
preparations for defence. They organised an army, and 
at the suggestion of John Adams unanimously appointed 
Washington, then a delegate from Virginia, commander- 
in-chief. At this time the population of the thirteen 
colonies amounted to about two millions six hundred 
thousand, of whom half a million were negroes. 

On the 1 7th of June, the Americans having formed 
an entrenchment on Breed's Hill, in sight of Boston and 
near another height known as Bunker Hill, were attacked 
by the British, who, after losing a thousand men, ob- 
tained the advantage. 



Independence Declared. 101 

In the following autumn, Washington sent a detach- 
ment of his troops into Canada, with the view of 
securing the co-operation of the people of that colony, 
many of whom were favourable to the American cause. 
But the soldiers, too independent and undisciplined to 
obey their own officers, cheated the Canadians, and 
treated their religion with contempt. They took Mon- 
treal, but failed at Quebec, and after nine months were 
driven from the province, having made enemies of the 
people instead of friends. 

About this time Thomas Paine, an emigrant from 
England, and a notorious infidel, published, at Frank- 
lin's suggestion, a strongly-written book, entitled 
6i Common Sense," in which kingty authority was de- 
nounced, and George III. especially pronounced a male- 
volent tyrant. The book had an immense circulation, 
and from this time the very principle of monarchy was 
execrated by many who hitherto had only desired the 
enjoyment of their rights as British subjects. 

During the winter, the American arms prevailed in 
South Carolina, and in March, 1776, Washington gained 
possession of Boston. On the 4th of the following July, 
after long hesitation and several fruitless petitions to 
the king, Congress took a decided stand in favour of 
separation, and the celebrated Declaration of Indepen- 
dence was proclaimed from the State House in Phila- 
delphia. In this declaration it was set forth as self- 
evident " that all men are created equal ; that they are 
endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable 
rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pur- 

H 3 



I02- The Church and the Colonies. 

suit of happiness ; that, to secure these rights, govern- 
ments are instituted among men, deriving their just 
powers from the consent of the governed; and that 
whenever any form of government becomes destructive 
of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter and 
abolish it." The document proceeded to assert that 
the conduct of George III. had proved his object to be 
the establishment of an absolute tyranny over America, 
and concluded by proclaiming the United Colonies free 
and independent States, and dissolving all political con- 
nection with Great Britain. It is worthy of remark that 
the facts stated in this declaration in proof of the 
tyrannical objects of the king were of recent occurrence, 
being generally subsequent to the outbreak of the 
existing quarrel. The nourishing condition and growing 
population of the colonies certainly proved that, on the 
whole, the rule of England had been far from destruc- 
tive of the ends of government, though sometimes 
harsh and sometimes unwise. But, under the present 
excited state of feeling, the declaration expressed the 
sentiments of the multitude, and in support of it the 
members of Congress pledged to each other " their 
lives, their fortune, and their sacred honour." 

The events of the revolutionary contest must be 
noticed but briefly in this place, since to mention them 
in detail would require a volume. It was a civil war 
between Englishmen, for, though fought in America, 
each party found encouragement on both sides of the 
Atlantic. Like the civil war of the preceding century, 
it was in a great measure free from the reproach of 



American Discouragements. 103 

wanton cruelty and unnecessary violence. There was 
none of that inhuman ferocity which made the first 
French revolution so hideous, none of that gloating 
over human gore which, after the lapse of seventy 
years, it is appalling to contemplate. 

The first year of the war closed with great dis- 
couragement to the Americans. Their armies were 
defeated, New York was taken from them, and many 
of their troops deserted to the British side. As the 
enemy advanced, Congress retreated from Philadelphia 
to Baltimore, where they found themselves without 
the means of obtaining a revenue adequate to the 
necessities of the country. Under these circumstances 
they invested Washington with dictatorial powers for 
six months, recommended a day of fasting and humi- 
liation, and sent an embassy to France in the hope of 
inducing Louis XVI. to attack the West Indies. Khode 
Island was taken by the British, and in England it was 
believed that the rebellion was effectually crushed ; but 
a victory gained by Washington at Trenton, in New 
Jersey, raised the spirits of the provincials, whose army 
was again enlarged by accessions from the militia. 

In the following year, 1777, Benjamin Franklin was 
in France vainly soliciting open assistance and an 
acknowledgment of American independence. Arms 
were, however, privately sent over, and the Marquis 
de la Fayette, then a young man of nineteen, devoted 
himself personally to the American cause, and landed 
at Charlestown in the spring. The battle of Brandy- 
wine Creek followed, in which the Americans were 

H 4 



1 04 The Church and the Colonies. 

defeated by Lord Cornwallis. Washington and his 
army retreated, and Philadelphia was occupied by the 
British in the following September. 

A plan had been formed by the British in the mean 
time for sending an army from Canada to the Hudson 
Biver, by way of Lake Champlain and Lake Greorge, in 
order to recover possession of Crown Point, Ticon- 
deroga, and other important posts. Greneral Burgoyne 
was placed in command of the army, and was joined 
by many Indians of the Six Nations. After taking 
Ticonderoga and gaining various other advantages, 
Burgoyne was forced to surrender with an army of 
6000 men to General Grates at Saratoga. 

The forts on the lakes now fell into the hands of 
the revolutionists; many who had been considered 
"Tories" joined the popular party; and France ac- 
knowledged American independence. In the autumn 
of this year a form of confederation between the 
thirteen provinces having been proposed by the pro- 
visional Congress was adopted by the several pro- 
vincial legislatures. The new confederacy was entitled 
"The United States of America," each of which was 
bound to the others for the security of their joint 
liberties. Each State was to retain its sovereignty and 
every right expressly surrendered to the United 

States. The powers of Congress were defined by the 
Articles of Confederation. A national flag was adopted, 
thirteen stars and as many stripes representing the 
combined republics. In England the apprehension of 
a French war led to a proposal that the original de- 



Mafsacre of Wyoming. 105 

mands of America should be granted for the sake of 
peace. But the proposal came too late, and the pro- 
vincials refused to treat until the British armies should 
have been removed from their territory and their 
independence acknowledged. 

In the following year, 1778, the treaties with France 
were ratified by Congress; war broke out between 
France and England, and although Washington's 
army was in the greatest distress through the want of 
food and clothing, the prospects of the revolution 
brightened. Considerable numbers of those who had 
hitherto declared themselves royalists went over to the 
popular side, and the British evacuated Philadelphia, 
concentrating their forces at New York. Attempts 
were now made by intriguing persons to remove 
Washington from the chief command, but without 
success. A Prussian officer was employed to discipline 
the hitherto raw troops, whose efficiency was, in con- 
sequence, much increased. In the mean time the 
mass of the people suffered greatly from the devastating 
effects of the war. Marauding parties of royalists on 
the one hand, and provincials on the other, were con- 
stantly employed in plundering and burning barns, 
mills, and private dwellings. Privateers were fitted 
out in the American ports, and the notorious Paul Jones 
in the next year alarmed even the coasts of England 
and Scotland by his depredations. On the other side, 
the beautiful district of Wyoming, in Pennsylvania, 
was devastated by royalists and Indians, men, women, 
and children being cruelly destroyed by the remorseless 



io6 The Church and the Colonies. 

savages. In the latter part of this year the principal 
seat of the war was in the Southern States, where the 
loyal party was still powerful. South Carolina was 
composed in a great measure of " Tories," and after a 
battle near Savannah, in which the Americans were de- 
feated, the whole of Georgia came under British autho- 
rity. The slaves, not being identified with American 
interests, manifested great willingness to aid the royal 
cause. During the contest many of them were induced 
to enlist in the British army by the king's proclamation 
of freedom to all slaves of rebel masters who should join 
the royal standard. After the war a number of them 
were carried to Nova Scotia, where allotments of 
land were promised to them, " which it appears they 
never received." * From Nova Scotia they sailed for 
Sierra Leone in 1791, in sixteen ships furnished by 
government, and after some losses on the passage 
more than eleven hundred remained to settle that im- 
portant colony. 

The year 1779 was unfavourable to the Americans. 
In the South, their troops with their French auxiliaries 
were defeated, and the Polish officer Pulaski fell at 
Savannah. The British commanded the sea and the 
navigable rivers, and by destroying magazines, capturing 
ships, and attacking towns, kept the people in constant 
alarm ; while, at the same time, they prevented nearly 
all communication between the North and South. 
They defeated the provincial forces on the Hudson 

* Walker's " Church, of England Mission at Sierra Leone," xxiv. 



Low Credit of Congrefs. 107 

river and on the Penobscot, and ravaged the villages 
on the coast of Connecticut. At the end of the year, 
notwithstanding French assistance, it appeared pro- 
bable that America would be obliged to yield to the 
supremacy of England. The credit of Congress had 
sunk so low that at this time thirty dollars of its 
paper money were considered no more than equal in 
value to a single dollar in silver. 

The following year was little more favourable to the 
revolutionary party. Charleston, the capital of South 
Carolina, was taken by the British under Greneral 
Clinton, who now proclaimed in the South a pardon 
for past offences on submission, and exemption from 
all taxation excepting by the colonial legislature. 
Many who had been deterred from taking any active 
part by the superior force of the Americans, now 
avowed themselves faithful subjects of King George. 
But when it was afterwards proclaimed that all who 
would not take an active part in settling and securing 
the king's government should be treated as rebels, 
many resumed their arms and joined the forces which 
Congress was raising for the recovery of South Carolina. 

This army, under Greneral Grates, finally came in 
conflict with the British, under Lord Cornwallis, at 
Camden, not far from Charleston. The Americans were 
totally defeated, but soon afterwards gained an advan- 
tage among the mountains in the west of North Caro- 
lina. Meantime Washington continued with his army 
in the neighbourhood of New York, attempting to re- 
strain the incursions of the British. His situation was 



to8 The Church and the Colo 



nies. 



very trying, and he found it difficult to keep down the 
mutinous spirit which prevailed among his troops on 
account of their want of the common necessaries of life. 
In the autumn, Arnold, one of his generals, gave up the 
American cause, and entered the service of the king. A 
French fleet arrived in Khode Island with six thousand 
troops under the Count de Kochambeau, but it was 
immediately blockaded by the British, under Admiral 
Arbuthnot. Little more was effected during the year, 
and after a geoeral exchange of prisoners both parties 
went into winter quarters. The American army was 
again in a most wretched state, and officers were sent 
to seize provisions wherever they could, the only pay- 
ment given being a certificate of the quantity and value 
of the articles taken. 

The year 1781 began with a victory gained by the 
Americans at a place called " The Cowpens," near the 
line dividing North and South Carolina. Another 
deadly conflict took place near (xuildford, in the former 
State, which resulted in the retreat of the Americans. 
Several battles were afterwards fought with various suc- 
cess, but, on the whole, the Americans, aided as they 
were with money and troops from France, were gra- 
dually gaining the advantage. Want of supplies obliged 
Cornwallis to draw back to Wilmington, whence, in the 
spring, he advanced to Petersburg in Virginia. As he 
considered it advisable to secure a strong post for com- 
munication with the fleet, he selected and fortified 
York Town, at the mouth of York Eiver, which he oc- 
cupied with all his force. He was there surrounded by 



Surrender of Cornwallis. 1 09 

the combined French and American forces by land, and 
blocked up by a French squadron on the Chesapeake. 
Every attempt to relieve him being frustrated, he was 
compelled, on the 19th of October, to surrender his 
naval force to France, and his troops, seven thousand in 
number, to the United States. 

This event decided the contest, which had cost Eng- 
land a hundred thousand men and more than seventy 
millions of money. Early in the spring of 1782, hos- 
tilities were suspended, and John Adams having been 
appointed by Congress to conduct the negotiations,- the 
independence of the United States was finally acknow- 
ledged, and a treaty of peace concluded in the following 
October. 

Soon after the termination of the war it was found 
that the existing articles of confederation were insuf- 
ficient for the purposes of a regular government. Con- 
gress had no power to make treaties with foreign 
nations which would be binding on the several States, 
and the trade between the States themselves was im- 
peded by many restrictions. It was not to be thought 
that because the States had become independent of 
England, they were therefore independent of each 
other. Something was wanted which should supply 
the bond which had formerly existed in their common 
dependence on the mother-country. Accordingly John 
Adams, as early as 1783, suggested that Congress should 
effect a closer union of the States, and enlarge the powers 
of the general government. In 1786, on the suggestion 
of James Madison, of Virginia, a convention of dele- 



no The Church and the Colonies, 

gates met in Maryland, and laid before Congress a pro- 
posal for a Greneral Convention for effecting such altera- 
tions as would meet the necessities of the case. The 
proposal being sanctioned, a Convention met at Phila- 
delphia in May, 1787, composed of the principal states- 
men in the country. After four months' labour, the 
new Constitution was drawn up, and was further exa- 
mined and discussed by various state conventions and 
by the people at large. Public opinion was by no 
means unanimous in its favour, the party called "Fede- 
ralists" supporting it, and those who objected to the 
amount of power conferred on the rulers opposing it. 
Ultimately all the States gave it their sanction, North 
Carolina and Phode Island being the last to acquiesce 
in its provisions. 

By this new Constitution* the general government 
was made to consist of three departments, legislative, 
executive, and judicial. The legislative department is 
composed of a Senate and House of Eepresentatives, col- 
lectively styled Congress. The former body is composed 
of two members from each State, whether its population 
be large or small, who hold their office for six years, 
and are appointed by their respective legislatures. The 
Senate confirms the appointment of officers nominated 
by the President, and ratifies treaties. One-third of the 
members go out of office every two years, and by this 
arrangement a permanent character is given to the 
Senate, which the other House does not possess. The 

* M. Murray, p. 816. 



Constitution of the Union. 1 1 1 

members of the House of Eepresentatives are elected by 
the people for tvjo years, a prescribed number of inha- 
bitants to each district being entitled to send one 
member. In the States where slavery exists, this re- 
quired number is made up of slaves as well as free 
persons, five slaves being counted as three freemen ; but 
since the slaves have no vote, the whites in those States 
have many more representatives in proportion to their 
number than in the free States. With the view of 
preventing the growth of an aristocracy, titles of nobi- 
lity and the entail of estates were prohibited. 

The executive of the government is the President. 
He is appointed by electors in the several States, chosen 
by the people, or by the House of Eepresentatives in 
case no person should receive a majority of all the votes 
of the electors, those from each State having one vote 
collectively. He is elected for four years, but may be 
removed from office by impeachment in case of con- 
viction of misconduct. He nominates, subject to con- 
firmation by the Senate, all civil, military, and naval 
officers of the general government, and is commander- 
in-chief of all the land and naval forces. He ratifies 
treaties, subject to the approbation of two-thirds of the 
Senate. The President also has power to pass a veto 
or negative on such acts of Congress as he may disap- 
prove, which acts may subsequently be passed and be- 
come laws by a majority of two-thirds in both Houses, 
without the concurrence of the President. 

A Vice-President is elected at the same time and in 
the same manner as the President, to fill that office in 



113 The Church and the Colonies. 

case it should become vacant by death or any other 
cause. 

In Congress is vested the power to declare war, to 
raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a 
navy, to collect a revenue by direct taxes and duties, to 
regulate commerce, coin money, and, in general, to pro- 
vide for the security and welfare of the nation. Both 
Houses must concur in supporting any bill before it can 
become a law. 

The judicial department is vested in a Supreme Court 
and such district courts as Congress may establish. All 
questions arising under the laws of the United States 
come under the cognisance of these courts, as well as 
those concerning treaties, and cases arising between 
individuals of different States and between foreigners 
and citizens. The judges are appointed by the Presi- 
dent, for life, and it is worthy of remark that in seventy- 
two years, since the adoption of the present constitu- 
tion, there have been but four Chief Justices of the 
United States. 

The functions of Congress extend to affairs of a 
general nature, and must not be considered as identical 
with those of the British Parliament. The legislation, 
which principally affects the daily life of the people, is 
carried on in the several State legislatures, much in the 
same way as it was formerly conducted in the colonial 
assemblies. Each of the States has its House of Eepre- 
sentatives, usually elected annually. It has its Governor 
and Senate, chosen by the people, and occupying a 
position analogous to that of the Governor and Council 



The Church and the Revolution. 1 13 

anciently nominated by the Crown. It has also its 
Supreme Court and its judges, appointed in various 
ways, according to the traditions of the several com- 
munities. 

We have now traced the progress of the American 
Union from its first rudiments in the humble New Eng- 
land confederacy. We have seen the primitive idea 
gradually developed in the abortive plan of the Albany 
Congress, in the Stamp Act Congress at New York, in 
the more authoritative assembly of 1774, in the revo- 
lutionary government formed at Philadelphia in 1776, 
in the Articles of Confederation of 1777, and finally in 
the constitution which has retained its hold on the 
great mass of the American people to the present time. 
That constitution, whatever may be its defects, is the 
result of past history; not an attempt to realise a 
beautiful theory, but an adjustment of the actual facts, 
the conflicting interests, and the established principles 
of a previous condition.* In all this, religious persons 
in America believe they see the hand of a guiding and 
controlling Providence. 

Leaving the new government thus established with 
George Washington at its head, we must now direct 
our attention to the fortunes of the Church during the 
period of fearful excitement which I have briefly 
described. 

As the Eevolution approached, the clergy in the 
South found themselves more and more under the 

* Church Eeview, Jan. 1859. 

I 



114 The Church and the Colonies, 

domination of the people, while at the same time there 
was a general spread of sectarianism. At an early- 
period the vestries in Virginia had gained the right of 
induction, and had often availed themselves of their 
power to keep the rectory vacant, while they employed 
some person to officiate during their pleasure upon a 
miserable stipend. Actions of this kind now became 
more and more common. In Maryland, laws were 
passed by the provincial assembly subjecting the clergy 
to the jurisdiction of laymen. Justices of the peace, 
as well as dissenting ministers, took upon themselves 
to perform marriages, where formerly the licence to do 
so was restricted to the ministers of the Establishment. 
Influenced by the eloquence of the celebrated Patrick 
Henry, the law courts in Virginia decided against the 
clergy, in a great case involving the payment of their 
lawful dues. In 1771, not only the laity, but the clergy 
themselves in that colony, had become indifferent to 
the question of an American episcopate. Four clergy- 
men even protested against the project, and received 
for their protest the thanks of the legislature. Many 
worthy persons feared that, under existing circum- 
stances, bishops would be little more than political 
tools in the hands of the British ministry. 

When the Eevolution broke out, snares were some- 
times artfully laid with the view of entrapping 
the clergy, and they were expected to take part in 
public services and fasts, some of which were probably 
designed not so much to seek the favour of Heaven as 
to arouse the people against the lawful authorities. 



Loyalty of the Church. 115 

On the day after the arrival of the news of the Boston 
Port Bill, the Virginian House of Burgesses being in 
session, a resolution was introduced and adopted fixing 
a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer. The infidel 
Jefferson, afterwards President of the United States, 
was a member of this assembly, and gives the following 
account of the spirit in which he bore his part of the 
performance : — 

" No example of such a solemnity had existed since 
the days of our distresses in the war of '55, since which 
a new generation had grown up. With the help of 
Eushworth, whom we rummaged over for the revolu- 
tionary precedents and forms of the Puritans of those 
days, preserved by him, we cooked up a resolution, 
somewhat modernising the phrases, for appointing the 
1st of June, on which the Port Bill was to commence, 
for a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, to implore 
Heaven to avert from us the evils of civil war, and to 
inspire us with firmness in support of our rights, and 
to turn the hearts of the king and parliament to 
moderation and justice." * 

There can be no doubt that while the Puritan 
preachers were declaiming on such texts as "What 
portion have we in David ? " " To your tents, Israel ! " 
the general influence of the Church was in favour of 
loyalty. Yet in the South, where the decay of zeal 
and piety in the Church had been most conspicuous, 
there were many among the clergy who felt little 

* Jefferson's Works, quoted in the " New York Keview." 
1 2 



1 1 6 The Church and the Colonies. 

scruple in absolving themselves from their sworn alle- 
giance. About one-third of those in Virginia joined 
the Kevolution, and some of them even gave up their 
clerical character and became officers in the army. A 
better course was taken by a respected young clergy- 
man, William White, of Pennsylvania, who, having 
adopted the popular cause from a belief in its justice, 
was appointed to the responsible post of Chaplain to 
Congress. 

Yet the hatred of the Church, instinctively felt by the 
bulk of the revolutionists, was not appeased by the 
adhesion to their cause of even such clergymen as 
White, and such laymen as Washington. The Ana- 
baptists of Virginia, having obtained popularity by their 
ready concurrence in the war, first obtained from the 
legislature a position of equality with the Establish- 
ment, and next prevailed on the same body to repeal 
former laws in favour of the Church. The effect of this 
act was to stop the incomes of most of the clergy and 
to drive them from the country. The churches were 
now abandoned, congregations were broken up, and 
divine ordinances were maintained only in an occasional 
way by a few zealous pastors, who itinerated as mis- 
sionaries with that pious object. 

To the northward of Pennsylvania, the clergy, without 
exception, considered themselves bound to abide by 
their oaths of allegiance, and consequently endured a 
persecution which displayed the bitterness of political 
and theological rancour combined. The sufferings 
which they endured, and the insults heaped upon them, 



Loss of E?idowments. 117 

were innumerable. One of their number who refused to 
pray for Congress was barbarously murdered. Another 
was dragged at a horse's tail and rendered insane for 
life. Mr. Beach, the venerable pastor, whose conver- 
sion from Puritanism has been mentioned, on being 
ordered to cease praying for the king, replied that " he 
would do his duty and preach and pray for his sove- 
reign till they cut out his tongue." One of the revolu- 
tionary generals informed the Eev. Mr. Inglis, of Trinity 
Church, New York, afterwards Bishop of Nova Scotia, 
that, on a certain day, " General Washington would be 
at church, and would be glad if the prayers for the 
king and royal family were omitted, or the word ( king ' 
exchanged for ( commonwealth.'" Mr. Inglis took no 
notice of this message, and afterwards told Washington 
that it was in his power to close the churches, but not 
to make the clergy depart from their duty. With the 
object of overawing him, a hundred armed men were 
marched into the church while he was officiating ; but 
he fearlessly continued the appointed service, refused 
to admit sectarian chaplains, and succeeded in main- 
taining the high ground which he had taken. 

When American independence was finally recognised 
by Great Britain, the Society for Propagating the 
Gospel, in compliance with the terms of its charter, 
made no further allowances to the missionaries in the 
United States, and the northern clergymen were soon 
thrown entirely on the voluntary support of their 
people, who hitherto had only assisted the grants of the 
society. The endowments in Yermont, which the want 

I 3 



1 1 8 The Church and the Colonies. 

of clergy had hitherto rendered unserviceable, were 
applied to purposes of education, and ultimately in 
Virginia an unjust sentence took away the remaining 
glebes and many of the houses of worship. Great 
numbers of people who formerly were considered mem- 
bers of the Church of England, had forsaken it in its 
evil day, and attached themselves to the popular 
sectarianism. Many of the loyalists, laity as well as 
clergy, had gone to reside in England, Nova Scotia, 
or Canada. Thus, both in the North and South, the 
Church was fearfully weakened, and in some places 
almost annihilated. The churches were in ruins, or 
closed, or deserted ; there was no centre of unity, and 
not a shadow of ecclesiastical government existed. 



A Calm succeeds the Storm, 



119 



CHAP. V. 



THE CHURCH REVIVED. 




CONDITION OF THE CHURCH AFTER THE REVOLUTION. — DENMARK OFFERS 
LUTHERAN ORDINATION. CONSECRATION OF BISHOP SEABURY. — FOR- 
MATION OF THE GENERAL CONVENTION. ADMISSION OF THE LAITY. 

REVISION OF THE LITURGY. — THE " PROPOSED BOOK." — REMONSTRANCE 
OF THE ENGLISH BISHOPS.— ELECTION AND CONSECRATION OF BISHOPS 
WHITE AND PROVOOST. — INTERVIEW WITH GEORGE HI. — FORMATION OF 
THE HOUSE OF BISHOPS. FINAL ADOPTION OF THE PRAYER-BOOK. 

HOSE who regard the Church as merely 
a function of the State must think that 
our communion in America ought to 
have come to an end simultaneously 
with the prostration of those powers 
by which it had been hitherto in some measure 
supported. But there was in it a principle of in- 
dependent life which quickly showed itself. The 
storm passed away, and the labourers returned to 
their work. After the recognition of independence 
by England, the clergy who had been loyal to the 
king and parliament could pray with a good con- 
science for the President and Congress, though the 
old ties between Church and State did not exist. What- 
ever might have been their opinions as to the Eevolution, 
they could now unite with their people in measures 
for the good of their common country. Separation 

1 4 



i^o The Church revived. 

from England having been accomplished, their attach- 
ment to the king during the recent contest was no 
longer a just occasion of suspicion or maltreatment. 
Many of the refugees returned, and found less difficulty 
than might have been expected in co-operating with 
those of their brethren who had adopted the popular 
cause. Yet the whole number of the remaining clergy 
was very small, and certainly was considerably below 
two hundred. Even in this remnant there were divisions 
of opinion affecting the very essence of churchmanship. 
In the Northern States, the absence of an establishment 
and the reaction against Puritan Congregationalism 
had led the clergy and their people to set a high value 
on all the strong and distinctive peculiarities of the 
Church as opposed to dissent. In the South, where 
the Church in former times had been taken for granted 
and her authority little questioned, attention had been 
less directed to the real foundations on which her 
authority rests, and too many were radically unscund 
in their views, not only of episcopacy and the sacraments, 
but of other important parts of the Christian scheme. 
Some of the more zealous of the Virginian clergy had 
even assisted in building up the rival system of Metho- 
dism, which then professed communion with the Esta- 
blishment. After the Eevolution, however, Dr. Coke, 
appointed by Wesley superintendent of that connection 
in America, assumed to be a bishop, and ordained one 
Asbury as his colleague. The Methodists consequently 
became a separate sect, contrary to the protestations of 
their founder. It might be questioned whether the 



William White. 12 t 



somewhat discordant materials which existed in the 
Church itself could ever be brought into union ; and, 
in short, the same difficulty was to be surmounted in 
ecclesiastical affairs which the States had successfully 
encountered in politics. We shall now consider the 
constructive process by which, under Divine Providence, 
the desired result was accomplished. 

I have already mentioned the Eev. William White 
as having become chaplain to Congress in the darkest 
days of the revolutionary struggle. At the close of the 
war he was the sole remaining clergyman in Philadel- 
phia, where his presence contributed to turn aside 
the angry jealousy with which the Church was re- 
garded. Washington himself was his friend, and a 
regular worshipper at his church. At one time, per- 
ceiving the ministry of the Church " gradually approach- 
ing to annihilation " while no prospect appeared of 
obtaining a bishop, he had proposed a scheme for 
uniting the American congregations in a Convention, 
and, on behalf of the whole body, committing to a 
clerical president a power of conferring a kind of pro- 
visional ordination. Most happily this dangerous idea 
never came into effect, and, after the acknowledgment 
of independence, Dr. White's main object was to gather 
together the scattered members of the Church, with a 
view to a joint application to the mother-country for 
the consecration of bishops. 

Soon after the cessation of hostilities, several young 
gentlemen of the South, who had been educated with a 
view to holy orders, embarked for England, and applied 



12,2, The Church revived. 

to Dr. Lowth, then Bishop of London, for ordination. 
An obstacle at once appeared. The laws of England 
forbade the ordination of those who could not take the 
oath of allegiance to the king. The bishop was there- 
fore obliged to apply for a special Act of Parliament 
allowing him to dispense with this requirement in cases 
like that now before him. While the success of his 
application was doubtful, John Adams, once the New 
England schoolmaster, and now the American minister 
at the Court of St. James, mentioned to the Danish 
minister, then in London, the case of the American 
candidates. This led to a kindly intended offer on the 
part of the Lutheran bishops in Denmark, who declared 
their willingness to ordain the young men, on condition 
of their subscribing such Articles of the Church of 
England as are purely theological. But, as Parliament 
consented to Bishop Lowth's request, the questionable 
Danish episcopate was not employed, and the ordinations 
finally took place under the same episcopacy with which 
America had been connected from the beginning. 

It was, however, very plain that the American Church 
could not remain dependent on the good offices of a 
prelate residing in a land which was now foreign. It 
became more than ever desirable that it should have 
bishops of its own, and as separation from England had 
removed the political objections, the scheme was again 
taken up with a view to practical measures. Here, how- 
ever, a difference of opinion manifested itself. In 
Connecticut it was thought that nothing ought to be 
attempted in the way of organisation until a bishop 



Consecration sought. 123 

had been obtained, while, in the Middle States, it was 
considered that the first step should be the formation 
of an association under which the churches might act 
as a body, the old medium of connection through the 
Bishop of London having been destroyed. Soon after 
the ratification of the treaty of peace, the clergy in 
Connecticut assembled again in a voluntary Convention, 
as they had been accustomed to do in the colonial 
times, and elected as their bishop Dr. Samuel Seabury, 
lately a missionary of the Society for the Propagation of 
the Grospel. The election was easily accomplished ; but 
the main point was, of course, the consecration, to which, 
as yet, the way was by no means open. The well-in- 
structed friends of Seabury firmly believed in a succes- 
sion transmitted from a source coeval with Christianity 
itself. They held that as truly as all men are descended 
from the first parents of mankind, so truly the bishops 
of the Church Catholic are descended from the original 
pastors of the Christian world. They knew that by the 
law of nature every man had his two parents, and that 
in order to prove a succession of men from Adam to the 
present time, it was by no means necessary to trace every 
particular link of the chain. So, in like manner, they 
were satisfied that, by the constant law of the Church, 
every true bishop had his ecclesiastical progenitors in 
the bishops who consecrated him, and that the successive 
steps, connected as they are with various lines of de- 
scent, might safely be taken for granted. 

It was hoped that consecration might be obtained in 
England, and accordingly Dr. Seabury sailed for this 



124 The Church revived. 

country, bearing a certificate of his election, together 
with letters from America earnestly requesting the 
boon which during a century and a half had been 
asked in vain. But he' arrived here at an unfavourable 
time, the relations between this country and her late 
colonies being new and uncertain, and the government 
fearing * " lest any apparent interference on their part 
should stir up the jealousy of new-born independence." 
The see of Canterbury was then vacant, and the Arch- 
bishop of York was unable to take measures for the 
consecration of an American citizen without the autho- 
rity of Parliament. As it was evident that, at all 
events, a long delay was unavoidable, Dr. Seabury, fol- 
lowing the advice of Dr. Berkeley (son of the great 
Bishop Berkeley), the late Dr. Eouth of Magdalen 
College, and other sound divines, proceeded to Scotland, 
where he applied for consecration to the bishops of 
the " Scottish Episcopal Church," a communion which 
had maintained a true succession, though long trodden 
down by established dissent. He produced a copy of 
the recent law of Connecticut, enabling episcopal con- 
gregations to transact their own ecclesiastical affairs, 
and proved that the number of those congregations in 
that State now exceeded seventy, and composed a body 
of nearly 40,000 persons. After overcoming several 
difficulties, Dr. Seabury was solemnly consecrated at 
Aberdeen, on the 14th of November, 1784, by the 
Bishops of Aberdeen, Eoss, and Moray. Subsequently 

* Bishop of Oxford's "American Church," p. 196. 



Consecration obtained. 125 

to the consecration, lie signed, on behalf of the Church 
in Connecticut, certain articles which might serve as a 
basis for permanent fraternal intercourse between the 
Churches in Scotland and America, and engaged to 
favour the introduction into America of the Scottish 
communion service. In the beginning of the summer 
of 1785, he was again in Connecticut, and soon after- 
wards entered on the duties of his new office. He met 
with no disrespect ; but the Puritan ministers seemed 
rather alarmed, and, in order to neutralise his influence, 
gave one another the title of bishops, which formerly 
they had reprobated. 

In 1783, the Church in Maryland assembled in Con- 
vention, and declared that she " possessed the right to 
preserve and complete herself as an entire Church, 
agreeably to her ancient usages and professions, and 
that the churches, chapels, glebes, and other property 
formerly belonging to the Church of England, belonged 
to that Church and were secured to it for ever." 

In the mean time the clergy of the Middle States 
had pursued their separate plan. A few of them having 
met, in May 1784, at Brunswick in New Jersey, in 
order * to renew a charitable society, it was determined 
to hold a larger meeting in New York, with the view of 
agreeing on some general principles of union between 
all the episcopal churches in the United States. 

About the same time the clergy and laity of Penn- 
sylvania assembled and agreed to certain fundamental 

* Bishop White's "Memoirs of the Episcopal Church," p. 11. 



12,6 The Church revived. 

principles favourable to the independence of the Ame- 
rican Church, the continuance of the former doctrines 
and worship, the ministry of bishops, priests, and 
deacons, and the enactment of general canons or laws 
by a representative body of the clergy and laity con- 
jointly. Eesolutions of a like nature were adopted in 
Maryland in the summer of 1784, and in Massachusetts 
in the following September. In South Carolina a 
tardy consent to apply for the episcopate was clogged 
with a condition (now long since abandoned) that no 
bishop should reside within her borders. In the South 
generally, there was far too much of this unreasonable 
jealousy, which grew out of the general prostration of 
authority. It was evident that the Church needed 
some leading person who (like Washington in the 
State) should, by patience, wisdom, and moderation, 
combine men of various parties in a general alliance. 
Such a man the Church now found in the friend of 
Washington, William White. 

In October, 1784, the meeting proposed by the more 
informal assembly at Brunswick took place at New 
York. It consisted of fifteen clergy and eleven laymen, 
from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
Maryland, and Virginia. These gentlemen agreed in 
recommending the following principles of ecclesiastical 
union * : — 

First. — That there shall be a General Conven- 
tion of the Episcopal Church in the United States of 
America. 

* Bishop White's " Memoirs of the Episcopal Church," p. 66. 



A Convention recommended, 127 

Second. — That the Episcopal Church in each State 
shall send deputies to the Convention, consisting of 
Clergy and Laity. 

Third. — That associated congregations, in two or 
more States, may send deputies jointly. 

Fourth. — That the said Church shall maintain the 
doctrines of the Gospel as now held by the Church of 
England, and shall adhere to the liturgy of the said 
Church as far as shall be consistent with the American 
Eevolution and the constitutions of the respective States. 

Fifth. — That in every State where there shall be a 
bishop duly consecrated and settled, he shall be consi- 
dered a member of the Convention ex officio. 

Sixth. — That the clergy and laity, assembled in con- 
vention, shall deliberate in one body, but shall vote 
separately ; and the concurrence of both shall be neces- 
sary to give validity to every measure. 

Seventh. — That the first meeting of the Convention 
shall be at Philadelphia, on the Tuesday before the feast 
of St. Michael next ; to which it is hoped and earnestly 
desired that the episcopal churches in the several States 
will send their clerical and lay deputies, duly instructed 
and authorised to proceed on the necessary business 
herein proposed for their deliberation. 

There was in Connecticut and elsewhere a strong 
prejudice against Dr. White's favourite measure, the 
embracing of the laity in a scheme for ecclesiastical 
legislation. But from what he had read of primitive 
usage, Dr. White considered * that in very early times, 

* Memoirs, p. 76. 



l%8 The Church revived. 

when the Christian people in every city (with the sur- 
rounding district) were an ecclesiastical commonwealth, 
the body of the people had a considerable share in the 
determinations of the church. From the fifteenth 
chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, he gathered that 
the decree of the council at Jerusalem was accompanied 
by the consent of the laity. Hence he argued that the 
people might lawfully give by representation the same 
sanction which they gave originally in a body. If, 
then, the principle of lay representation were lawful, 
the propriety of adopting it ought to be determined by 
expediency. That it was expedient he judged first 
from its being a natural consequence of the principle of 
following the Church of England in all the leading 
points of her doctrine, discipline, and worship. " We 
could in no other way," he says, " have had a substitute 
for the parliamentary sanction to legislative acts of 
power. Such a sanction is pleaded for by Mr. Hooker 
and others, as rendered proper by the reason of the 
thing and the principles of the British constitution. 
. . . Bishop Warburton says : — 6 There was no 
absurdity in that custom which continued during the 
Saxon government and some time after, which admitted 
the laity into ecclesiastical synods ; there appearing to 
be much the same reasons for laymen sitting in Convo- 
cation, as for churchmen sitting in Parliament.' " 

A second reason for a lay element in synods was 
found in the great doubt which existed as to the prac- 
ticability of commending episcopacy to the people in 
any other way. "The prejudices," says Dr. White, 



First General Convention. 12,9 

66 of even some of the members of our own Church 
against the name, and much more against the office of 
bishop, and, added to this, the outcry which had been 
made on former occasions by persons of other deno- 
minations, that not spiritual powers only but civil also 
were intended, rendered it very uncertain whether we 
could accomplish the design without engaging in the 
measure such a description of gentlemen as might give 
it weight, and show to the world that nothing inimical 
either to civil or to religious rights was in contemplation." 

A third and equally cogent argument, as stated by 
the same writer, was the following : — " Without the 
order of laity permanently making a part of our assem- 
blies, it were much to be apprehended that the laymen 
would never be brought to submit to any of our eccle- 
siastical laws in such points as might affect the interests 
or the convenience of any of them, which it is evident 
might happen in very many cases : for instance, admis- 
sion to the communion and exclusion from it. And 
they would have the principles and the practice of 
England to plead in their favour." 

On the 25th of September, 1785, the first General 
Convention, as previously arranged, assembled in Phila- 
delphia. Members were present from New York, New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, 
and South Carolina. Connecticut was not represented ; 
and Bishop Seabury declined to attend, fearing the 
adoption of dangerous measures, and disliking especially 
the admission of the laity. The principal subjects 
which came before the meeting were the general con- 

K 



130 The Church revived. 

stitution of the proposed union, the formation of a 
common liturgy, and the obtaining of an American 
episcopate. " Never," says the Bishop of Oxford, " had 
so strange a sight been seen before in Christendom as 
this necessity of various members knitting themselves 
together into one by such a conscious and voluntary act. 
In all other cases the unity of the common episcopate 
had held such limbs together. But this common bond 
we had left wanting in our colonies, and it was the want 
of this which had thus dismembered their commu- 
nion." The measures which were now adopted, though 
without precedent and open to grave theoretical ob- 
jections, were probably the wisest which could have 
been chosen under the circumstances, and in fact re- 
sulted in the complete union of the American Church. 
The times were, in many respects, exceedingly unpro- 
pitious. In regard to politics the people were in an 
angry and unsettled state ; and having lately overthrown 
the ancient authority of the sovereign, they were about 
to revise the articles of their political confederation, 
and to form a new constitution for the United States. 
In regard to Church affairs, the standard of doctrine in 
England was by no means elevated, and latitudinarian 
ideas were generally fashionable. It could not be 
expected that deeper principles should prevail in 
America, where the sects were in the ascendant, and 
French infidelity was already exerting a powerful 
influence. Yet this was the period in which our 
brethren were under the absolute necessity of settling 
their form of worship and their mode of Church 



Ecclesiastical Constitution. 131 

government. All might have been lost, but through 
Divine mercy much was saved and much was gained. 
The moderate and conciliatory course of Dr. White, as 
president of the Convention, contributed more than any 
other earthly cause to this happy consummation. 

At this meeting most of the articles of union were 
ratified which had been proposed in the informal meet- 
ing at New York in the preceding year. An ecclesias- 
tical constitution was likewise framed, which was made 
to agree as closely as possible with the new constitution 
of the country. It was arranged that as every State had 
its own civil legislature, so in every State the church- 
men should have their separate Convention. In like 
manner, as the American nation had its Congress, the 
American Church was to have its triennial General Con- 
vention, consisting of a clerical and lay deputation, 
four of each order, from the several States. It was also 
provided that when there should be a bishop, he should 
be a member of the Convention by virtue of his office ; 
that the clergy should be accountable to the ecclesias- 
tical authority in the State only to which they should 
respectively belong ; and that the engagement previous 
to ordination should be a declaration of belief in the 
Holy Scriptures, and a promise of conformity to the 
doctrines and worship of the Church. 

In regard to the liturgy, it had been proposed at 
New York that only such changes should be allowed as 
had been made necessary by the altered political cir- 
cumstances of the country. But the friends of litur- 
gical revision, who should, in all reason, have waited for 

K 2 



133 The Church revived. 

the presence of tlie episcopate, thought the opportunity 
too favourable to be lost, and a Mr. Page, afterwards 
governor of Virginia, began by proposing to strike out 
the first four petitions in the Litany, for the alleged 
reason that the word " Trinity " is not found in Scrip- 
ture. This proposal did not ultimately prevail; but 
discussions followed, more or less painful, on the Thirty- 
nine Articles, on the doctrines of justification, predes- 
tination, and original sin, and on various rubrics and 
liturgical expressions. Great objections were alleged 
against the Article in the Apostles' Creed, " He de- 
scended into Hell," as well as against the public use of 
the Mcene and Athanasian Creeds. Very unwisely, a 
service was appointed for the 4th of July, as a thanks- 
giving for American independence, the effect of which, 
had it been allowed to remain, would have been to alie- 
nate from the Convention many who had been loyal 
during the war. The result of the discussions was that a 
" Proposed Prayer-book," having been hastily drawn up 
and printed, was afterwards sent to the Church Con- 
ventions of the several States for their approval. In 
some of the proposed changes Dr. White heartily con- 
curred, while others were carried in opposition to his 
wishes and advice. 

There was much more agreement in regard to the 
third and most important point, the obtaining of 
bishops, and that too notwithstanding the sneer of the 
worldly-wise Benjamin Franklin, who said that <( men 
would one day learn not to be dependent upon other 
countries, but would make their own bishops for them- 



Address to the English Bishops. 133 

selves."* It was resolved that, although Dr. Sea- 
bury's consecration was doubtless valid, the succession 
should be sought from England rather than from 
Scotland. Accordingly f the Convention addressed the 
archbishops and bishops of England, stating that the 
Episcopal Church in the United States had been severed 
by a civil revolution from the jurisdiction of the 
parent Church in England ; acknowledging the favours 
formerly received from the Bishop of London in par- 
ticular, and from the Society for Propagating the 
Gospel ; declaring their desire to perpetuate among 
them the principles of the Church of England in doc- 
trine, discipline, and worship ; and praying that their 
lordships would consecrate to the episcopacy those 
persons who should be sent with that view from the 
churches in any of the States respectively. A com- 
mittee was appointed with various powers, among which 
was that of corresponding with the archbishops and 
bishops of England during the recess. The Convention 
finally adjourned to meet in Philadelphia on the 20th 
of June, 1786. 

By some neglect the proposed alterations in the 
Prayer-book were not communicated to the English 
prelates, who were left to form their opinion of them 
from private correspondence and public rumour. 

The address was forwarded by the committee to John 
Adams, the American minister in London, together 

* From a sermon by the Eev. Dr. Shelton, of Buffalo. 
. f Bishop White's Memoirs, p. 14. 
K 3 



134 The Church revived. 

with certificates from the governors of several States, 
showing that no political objections now existed in 
America to the proposed consecrations. Mr. Adams was 
requested to deliver these papers to the Archbishop of 
Canterbury, and to forward the object of them as far 
as lay in his power. Though not himself a churchman, 
and though fully aware that he risked his popularity 
with the sects at home, this gentleman honourably per- 
formed his commission, and met his reward when after- 
wards he came to occupy the high position of President 
of the United States. 

Early in 1786 an answer was received in America, 
signed by the Archbishop and eighteen of the bishops, 
in which those eminent persons declared their wish to 
comply with the request, but wisely stated that they 
must delay measures to that effect until they should 
have become fully acquainted with the changes intended 
by the Convention. The letter closed in the following 
words : " While we are anxious to give every proof not 
only of our brotherly affection but of our facility in 
forwarding your wishes, we cannot but be extremely 
cautious lest we should be the instruments of esta- 
blishing an ecclesiastical system which will be called a 
branch of the Church of England, but afterwards may 
possibly appear to have departed from it essentially 
either in doctrine or discipline." 

After this letter had been despatched, the " Proposed 
Prayer-book" was received by the two Archbishops, 
and underwent their careful examination. In a letter 
addressed to the Convention they stated that they saw 



Objections of the Archbishops. 135 

with grief not only various unnecessary verbal altera- 
tions, but the entire omission of two of the Creeds and 
the mutilation of the third. Nevertheless they had 
agreed on presenting a bill to Parliament, and hoped 
soon to be enabled to consecrate for America. In the 
mean time they earnestly exhorted the Convention to 
restore the Apostles' Creed to its integrity, and to give 
the other two Creeds a place in the Prayer-book, even 
though the use of them were left discretional. They 
also objected to an article in the constitution, which 
seemed to degrade the clerical and even the episcopal 
character, by making the clergy accountable to a mixed 
lay and clerical assembly in the State to which they 
might happen to belong. Hints were added as to the 
care that should be taken in the choice of those who 
were to be elected bishops, and the Convention was re- 
minded that the credit of the English Church was 
involved in that of her American daughter. 

During the spring of 1786, the "Proposed Prayer- 
book " was considered by Conventions in the several 
States. Everywhere it proved a subject of controversy, 
and appeared likely to endanger the union so aus- 
piciously commenced. In New York nothing was de- 
cided on the subject, but the matter was kept open for 
consideration. In New Jersey the book was rejected. 
In Pennsylvania and Maryland some amendments were 
proposed. In South Carolina it was received without 
limitation. In Virginia it was adopted, but great ob- 
jections were made to the rubric which still empowered 
the minister to reject evil-livers from the Holy Com- 



136 The Church revived, 

munion. On the whole it was evident that, in regard 
to the Liturgy, the labours of the General Convention 
had thus far proved a failure. 

After the receipt of the first letter from the English 
prelates, the General Convention assembled in Phila- 
delphia on the 20th of June, 1786, under circumstances 
of considerable embarrassment. The churches in the 
different States had given instructions to their dele- 
gates which greatly interfered with their freedom of 
action. There were also the controversies respecting 
the proposed book, the objections made by some to the 
Scottish ordination of two clergymen in the Convention, 
and the demur expressed in the important communica- 
tion from England. It was now confidently predicted 
by her enemies that the Church would fall to pieces, 
but happily the difficulties were all surmounted. The 
system of receiving instructions from the State Conven- 
tions of the Church was evidently so fruitful of discord, 
that it was forthwith abandoned. The questions as to 
the proposed book were allowed to rest for the present, 
and the objections to Scottish ordination were met in a 
way calculated to obviate future difficulty with Bishop 
Seabury and his clergy. The article in the constitution 
which would apparently make a bishop amenable to 
the laity was amended before the English objections to 
it arrived. In regard to the only letter received from 
the English bishops, little more could be done at the 
time beyond repeating the application for the episco- 
pacy, and reasserting the attachment of the Convention 
to the well-understood system of the Church. As to 



Act of Parliament obtained. 137 

the Liturgy, the Convention wrote, " We have made no 
alterations or omissions but such as our civil constitu- 
tion required, and such as were calculated to remove 
objections. It is well known that many great and 
pious men of the Church of England have long wished 
for a revision of the Liturgy, which it was deemed im- 
prudent to hazard, lest it might become a precedent for 
repeated and improper alterations. This is with us the 
proper season for such a revision. "We are now set- 
tling and ordering the affairs of our Church, and if 
wisely done, we shall have reason to promise ourselves 
all the advantages that can result from stability and 
union." 

Soon after the rising of the Convention the letter, 
already mentioned, from the two Archbishops was re- 
ceived by the committee. Shortly afterwards there 
came a letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury alone, 
enclosing an Act of Parliament just obtained, which 
authorised the solicited consecrations, but provided that 
no person ordained by bishops consecrated in virtue of 
this Act should thereby be empowered to officiate within 
the British dominions. On the receipt of the Act the 
committee summoned the Convention to reassemble on 
the 10th of October. At this meeting it appeared that 
there was a general desire to comply as far as possible 
with the wishes of the English prelates, and without 
debate it was resolved to replace the Nicene Creed in 
the Prayer-book, to stand after the Apostles' Creed, 
with permission to use either. The clause in the latter 
Creed, of the "descent into hell," occasioned much 



138 The Church revived. 

debate, but it was finally restored. On some minor 
points the Convention adhered to its former judgment, 
as well as on the liturgical employment of the Athana- 
sian Creed, though the doctrinal statements of that 
formulary respecting the Trinity were fully admitted. 

It appeared that Dr. White had been chosen bishop 
by the Convention of the Church in Pennsylvania, 
Dr. Griffith by that of Virginia, and Dr. Provoost by 
that of New York. The Greneral Convention now signed 
the testimonials of these gentlemen, according to a form 
provided by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Drs. 
White and Provoost soon afterwards embarked for 
England. Dr. Griffith was prevented by poverty from 
accompanying them, and as the Church in Virginia did 
not furnish him with the necessary means, he was under 
the necessity of resigning his appointment. 

The election of Dr. Provoost proved equally un- 
fortunate, but for a different reason. His orthodoxy 
and zeal were very questionable, and fifteen years after 
his consecration he retired from the duties of his office. 
He was elected mainly because it was supposed that his 
ultra-democratic opinions would induce the people to 
tolerate him the more readily in his episcopal character. 

The two bishops elect sailed from New York on the 
2nd of November, and, after a pleasant and speedy 
voyage of eighteen days, landed at Falmouth on the 
20th. They met with various delays, and did not reach 
London until the 29th, when they made it their first 
business to call on Mr. Adams. By this gentleman 
they were introduced to the Archbishop of Canterbury, 



Interview with the King. 139 

who received them in the kindest manner, and promised 
to fix as early a date as possible for the consecration. 
Some days afterwards they waited on the Bishop of 
London, the learned Dr. Lowth, who was then in 
decaying health and near his decease. Dr. White also 
tried to have a conversation with John Wesley in refer- 
ence to the design, then lately adopted, of withdrawing 
the Methodists in America from the communion of the 
Church. Wesley, however, treated him rather uncere- 
moniously, and the desired interview never took place. 
Wesley's brother Charles was more courteous, and in a 
conversation with Dr. White expressed himself strongly 
against the proposed separation. 

As the consecration was to be performed under the 
consent of the king, it was thought proper that the 
candidates should be presented at court. Accordingly 
the Archbishop took them to the palace in his coach, 
and the late chaplain of the "rebel Congress" was 
introduced to the sovereign whom the Declaration of 
Independence had denounced as a tyrannical despot. 
Dr. White* gives the following account of the inter- 
view : — 

"While we were waiting in our places until the 
king should come to us in his passing from one to 
another, there occurred an additional instance of the 
attention of the Archbishop to the delicacy of our situa- 
tion. 'When the king speaks to you,' said he, 'you 
will only bow ; ' adding, with a smile, e When an Eng- 

* Memoirs, p. 157. 



140 The Church revived. 

lish bishop is presented, he does something more.' On 
being introduced to the king, I made this preconceived 
address, that f We were happy in the opportunity of 
thanking his majesty for his licence, granted to his 
grace the Archbishop, to convey the episcopal succession 
to the Church in America.' The king made this 
answer, which I set down, to show the kindness of the 
archbishop : e His grace has given me such an account 
of the gentlemen who have come over, that I am glad 
of the present opportunity of serving the interests of 
religion.' His majesty then asked Dr. Provoost whether 
the episcopal communion was not numerous in New 
York, and was answered by the doctor in the affirmative, 
with further thanks for the licence granted. The king 
then passed to the next in the circle, and after a little 
while we withdrew with the Archbishop." 

On Sunday, February 4th, the consecration took 
place in the chapel of the Archbishop's palace at 
Lambeth, the congregation present consisting of very 
few persons in addition to the family and the house- 
hold. On the following day the new bishops left 
London, and after a journey of five days arrived at 
Falmouth. Here they embarked on the 17th, and 
after a voyage of seven weeks, including the whole of 
the stormy month of March, safely landed at New 
York on Easter Sunday, April 7th, thankful to Grod 
for their personal protection, and for the obtaining of 
the long-sought American episcopate. 

The triennial General Convention assembled in July, 
1789, Bishop White presiding, when it appeared that 



Union with Bishop Seabury. 141 

Dr. Bass had been elected bishop of the Church in 

Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The Convention 
resolved that as there were already three bishops in 
America, including Bishop Seabury, those bishops were 
fully competent to consecrate other bishops, to ordain 
priests and deacons, and to govern the Church accord- 
ing to the canons. It was thought fit, however, to 
defer the consecration of Dr. Bass until the churches 
of New England should have united themselves with 
the general body. It was also determined that as soon 
as three bishops should be members of the Convention, 
the episcopal order should constitute a separate house, 
corresponding, in some measure, with the Senate of the 
United States, or with the Upper House of Convocation 
in England. It was arranged that either house should 
have the power of originating acts, and that the non- 
assent of the Upper House should negative all acts to 
which four-fifths of the Lower House did not still 
adhere. In order that the desired union might be 
accomplished, the Convention adjourned for two months, 
and met again on the 29th of September, when, to the 
joy of all sincere churchmen, Bishop Seabury appeared 
with several of the clergy from Massachusetts and 
Connecticut. The House of Bishops was accordingly 
formed, and the Convention proceeded to the enact- 
ment of such canons as existing circumstances required, 
the canons of the Church of England, which had never 
been more than partially binding in the colonies, being 
considered as abrogated by the separation between the 
two countries. Bishop Seabury gave up his opposition 



143 The Church revived. 

to the admission of the laity to synodical powers when 
he found that only legislative and not judicial powers 
were contemplated by the Convention. But unhappily, 
the rules of the Church of England respecting Matrimony 
and Divorce being considered as virtually abolished, the 
American Church, was left destitute of any authoritative 
regulations on these important subjects. To this day 
the defect remains unsupplied, and the marriage laws 
of the several States, generally lax and inconsistent, 
seem practically the only rule. Hence divorces are too 
readily obtained, and the marriage of divorced persons 
and marriage with a deceased wife's sister, though 
hardly deemed respectable, are more frequent than 
could be wished. 

The alterations in the Prayer-book now came under 
discussion, and the presence of Bishop Seabury proved 
to be of the utmost importance. The Lower House, 
recognising neither the authority of the "Proposed 
Book," nor of the English Prayer-book, undertook the 
perilous course of framing a new liturgy, and accord- 
ingly appointed committees to prepare a morning 
and evening prayer, a litany, a communion service, 
and other offices. The value of the House of Bishops 
was now seen, though consisting of only two mem- 
bers, Bishop Provoost absenting himself from the 
deliberations, and rendering himself troublesome alike 
to Bishop Seabury and to Bishop White. Kepresent- 
ing, as they did, the two schools of theology prevailing 
in the Church, these two good men acted together 
harmoniously, the latter cheerfully resigning the pre- 



Perils of Liturgical Revision. 143 



cedency to the former by reason of his seniority in point 
of consecration. The laity, then as now, generally 
strengthened the hands of the bishops, and such pro- 
posals as might justly be considered rash and ill-advised 
too often emanated from the ranks of the clergy. As 
a body, there is no reason to doubt that the members 
of the Convention acted from pure motives, and accord- 
ing to the best light which they had. Yet Bishop White 
tells us that a bystander who had heard some of the 
discussions made the following remark : — "When I hear 
these things, I look back to the origin of the Prayer- 
book, and represent to myself the spirits of its venerable 
compilers ascending to heaven in the flames of martyr- 
dom that consumed their bodies. I then look at the 
improvers of this book in .... and .... and .... 
The consequence is, that I am not sanguine in my ex- 
pectations of your meditated changes in the Liturgy." 

The two bishops, acting on a different principle from 
the Lower House, determined to regard the English 
offices as the basis of the work, and to discourage all 
changes but those which were obviously necessary or 
clearly expedient. All of the original was to remain, 
excepting where definitely altered. In carrying out 
this principle they were in some points obliged to yield, 
while in others the Lower House gave way to their 
suggestions. Hence the work jointly accomplished 
was to a great extent the result of compromise. The 
changes now made " show," says the Bishop of Oxford, 
"the great peril of attempting to improve fixed and 
ascertained forms ; for they are marked by a tendency 



144 The Church revived. 

to opposite extremes." Yet the American Prayer- 
book is substantially identical with that of the Church 
of England, and we have reason to be thankful that, 
under Divine Providence, the work of our Eeformers 
passed safely through a trjdng ordeal, and commended 
itself to the religious feelings and convictions of in- 
dependent America. 

Dr. Bass was not consecrated at this time, since 
Bishop White considered himself bound to carry on the 
English line of consecration without the admixture of 
the non-juring element involved in Bishop Seabury's 
episcopate. It appeared to him, therefore, a necessary 
preliminary, either that the Archbishop of Canterbury 
should release him from this supposed engagement, 
or that another American bishop should be consecrated 
in England, three bishops being required by the ancient 
canons to consecrate a fourth. The difficulty was solved 
in the way last mentioned, for, in 1790, Dr. Madison, 
bishop elect of Virginia, was consecrated at Lambeth, 
and afterwards took part with Bishops White and 
Provoost in consecrating Dr. Claggett for Maryland, 
Bishop Seabury assisting in the imposition of hands. 
Dr. Smith was consecrated in 1795 for South Caro- 
lina (which had consented to admit a bishop), and 
Dr. Bass for Massachusetts in 1797. The Church 
system was now becoming more consolidated, and its 
subsequent progress will be traced hereafter. In the 
mean time it may be well to consider the liturgy, con- 
stitution, worship, and general arrangements of the 
American Church as they exist at present. 



Alterations in the Prayer-book. 145 




CHAP. VI. 

LITURGICAL REVISION. 

RULE OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. — THE SAME RULE IN AMERICA. — 
ENGLISH REVIEW OF 1689. — CHANGES CAUSED BY THE REVOLUTION — 
BY A DESIRE TO IMPROVE BY CONNECTION WITH SCOTLAND. 

T may be important to notice that, in 
the alterations made in the Prayer- 
book, the American Church was only 
following a course which had been in 
a great measure marked out by the 
acknowledged principles and practice of the mother 
Church. The Church of England, in the Preface to 
her Prayer-book, has laid down as a rule that 
"the particular forms of divine worship and the 
rites and ceremonies appointed to be used therein, 
being things in their own nature indifferent and 
and alterable, and so acknowledged, it is but reasonable 
that upon weighty and important considerations, ac- 
cording to the various exigencies of times and occasions, 
such changes and alterations should be made therein, as 
to those who are in places of authority should, from 
time to time, seem either necessary or expedient." The 
practice of the Church of England has been in con- 

L 



j 46 Liturgical Revision. 

formity with this principle. We find, that " seeking to 
keep the nappy mean between too much stiffness in 
refusing, and too much easiness in admitting, variations 
in things once, advisedly established, she hath in the 
reign of several princes, since the first compiling of her 
liturgy in the time of Edward VI., yielded to make 
such alterations in some particulars as in the respective 
times were thought convenient." 

The last review of the English Prayer-book was made 
in 1661, when, after various alterations and additions, 
the book received its present form. A commission for 
a further review was issued in 1689, shortly after the 
accession of William III., and consisted of ten bishops 
and twenty other divines, who assembled in the Jeru- 
salem Chamber. The commissioners aimed chiefly at 
conciliating the dissenters, and proposed a number of 
sweeping alterations. Some of them were as fol- 
lows : — 

Non-conforming ministers joining the Church to 

be conditionally ordained. 
Chanting in cathedrals to be abolished. 
The Absolution to be read by Deacons as well as 

Priests. 
The Communion to be administered to persons 

while sitting in their pews, if they prefer it. 
The Gloria Patri to be used at the end of the last 
Psalm for the day, not at the end of each 
Psalm. 
The versicles after the Lord's Prayer to be said 
kneeling. 



Principles of Alteration. 147 

Sponsors and the sign of the Cross to be omitted if 

the parents should desire such omission. 
The use of the Athanasian Creed to be left to the 

discretion of each minister. 
The substitution of canonical for apocryphal les- 
sons. 
The removal of legendary saints' days from the 

calendar. 
The revision of the Table of Lessons. 
The omission of all high titles of the king or 
queen, such as " most religious/' or " high and 
mighty/' as well as of the supplication that the 
sovereign may " vanquish and overcome all his 
enemies." 
Some of the proposed changes were no doubt defen- 
sible ; but Convocation was determined not to sanction 
them, and the measure came to nothing. The docu- 
ment containing the alterations as projected by the 
commissioners, though long kept private in the Lam- 
beth library, became ultimately the basis of many 
modifications in the American Prayer-book. It will be 
seen, however, that some of the most objectionable parts 
of the scheme found no favour beyond the Atlantic. 

In their anxiety to commend the Church to the 
hearts and judgments of the American people, the 
members of the early General Conventions seem to have 
admitted three leading principles.* The first was that 
the Revolution made some alterations necessary; the 

* Church Eeyiew, Jan. 1859. 
L 2 






148 Liturgical Revision. 

second, that the services might be safely and wisely 
shortened ; and the third, that where words and phrases 
had lost their meaning, had ceased to convey truth to 
common minds, or had become associated with low 
ideas, they might sometimes be varied. The alterations 
finally decided upon may however be rendered more 
intelligible if arranged under appropriate heads. 

Under the first head we may enumerate those which 
were occasioned by political circumstances. The forms 
of prayer for " Gunpowder Treason," King Charles's 
Martyrdom, the Eestoration, and the King's Accession, 
together with the prayers for the Eoyal Family, were of 
course omitted. Even the thanksgiving for the Ame- 
rican Eevolution, substituted in place of them, was 
soon abolished, though at first it met with favour in 
some quarters. The prayer for the king after the third 
collect, with some alterations, became a prayer for the 
President. Kings, princes, and lords being associated 
in the public mind with lions and tigers and other 
savage beasts*, the words " High and Mighty King of 
kings, Lord of lords, the only Euler of princes," were 
changed to " the High and Mighty Euler of the uni- 
verse." In the Litany, a petition for all Christian 
rulers and magistrates was substituted for those re- 
specting the sovereign, the royal family, and the 
nobility. The prayer for Parliament was applied with 
little alteration to Congress, while the State Legislatures 
were unaccountably left unnoticed. In the prayer for 

* See Jefferson's Works. 



Politics and Expediency. 149 

the Church militant, the petition for the king and 
council was changed to a prayer for all Christian rulers 
In the Articles, the twenty-first, thirty-sixth, and 
thirty-seventh, being political in their character, were 
set aside. In the Catechism, "honour and obey the 
king " was changed to " honour and obey the civil 
authority." 

A second class of alterations consists of those which 
appear to have been suggested by the proposals of King 
William's commissioners of 1689. 

Thus, the Gloria Patri was allowed to be omitted at 
the end of each Psalm, and was required to be used 
only at the end of the Psalms, the Gloria In Excelsis 
being permitted as a substitute. The versicles after 
the Lord's Prayer, previously repeated by the priest 
standing, were wholly set aside, and the Lord's Prayer 
in that place omitted. On the same principle it was 
provided that the Lord's Prayer should not be used 
more than once in the course of the morning or 
evening prayer. The hundredth Psalm was placed 
before Benedicite, and only the first four verses of the 
latter were retained. In the evening prayer Magnificat 
and Nunc Dimittis were omitted, and Cantate Domino 
and Benedic Anima Mea substituted. Parents were 
allowed to be sponsors to their own children, and the 
sign of the Cross was suffered to be omitted if the 
sponsors should express a wish to that effect, a case 
which has very seldom, if ever, occurred. The Atha- 
nasian Creed was removed from liturgical use, the 
Commination service was abolished, and the reference 

L 3 



150 Liturgical Revision. 

to Judas in the exhortation before the Communion 
struck out. In the exhortation at the Commu- 
nion service, the whole passage respecting eating and 
drinking our own damnation, and the plaguing with 
divers diseases and deaths, was also expunged. The 
Apocryphal chapters were struck from the table of 
daily lessons, and the use of them was restricted to 
Saints' Days. The Calendar was altered by removing 
the names of all Saints for whose days a special service 
had not been provided. The arrangement of the 
Sunday lessons in general was changed. It was ap- 
pointed that from Septuagesima to Easter, passages from 
the Prophets of a penitential character should be read ; 
from Easter to Whitsunday, chapters from the Prophets 
appropriate to the season; and from Trinity Sunday 
to the twenty-second Sunday after Trinity, selections 
from the historical books. Lessons from the New 
Testament were specially appointed for every Sunday 
in the year. The petition for victory over enemies 
was laid aside in the prayer for the President, together 
with all words expressive of personal character in the 
chief magistrate, such as " most religious and gracious." 
In like manner, in the Burial service the words (i dear 
brother" are changed into "deceased brother;" "in 
sure and certain hope of the resurrection," to " looking 
for the general resurrection ; " while the sentence " as 
our hope is this our brother doth " is altogether omitted. 
No wish was however expressed to admit dissenting 
ministers by conditional ordination, as recommended 
in 1689. Chanting was not abolished, nor were deacons 



Avoiding of Mistakes, 151 

allowed to read the Absolution, nor was the communion 
suffered to be administered to persons in their pews, 
nor otherwise than according to the English rubric. 

A third class of alterations must be ascribed to a 
wish to avoid mistakes growing out of the popular but 
incorrect associations attached to particular words. 

There was, for example, the objection before noticed 
as to the words " He descended into Hell" Although 
the wish of the English bishops was so far complied 
with, that these words were permitted to retain their 
former place in the Apostles' Creed, yet a rubric was 
prefixed allowing any churches to omit those words, 
or to use instead of them the words, " He went into the 
place of departed spirits." 

It must, however, be noted, that in the Baptismal 
service the question is, " Dost thou believe all the 
articles of the Christian faith as contained in the 
Apostles' Creed ? " _ In the Catechism the child is taught 
to rehearse the articles of his belief exactly as in the 
English book; and the same form is repeated in the 
Visitation of the Sick. 

Many persons, not content with the doctrine of 
Scripture which teaches that Christ alone is Our High 
Priest, denied that men could properly be priests at all. 
Even the word "priest," like "prelate," had come to' 
be vulgarly associated with all that is bad, repulsive, 
and disagreeable. Accordingly we notice, here and 
there in the rubrics, the substitution of " presbyter " 
for u priest," though generally the latter word remains 
as in the English book. A graver alteration is seen in 

L 4 



i $2, Liturgical Revision. 

the " Absolution " at the commencement of daily prayer, 
the title of which was altered to "Declaration of 
Absolution." The Absolution in the " Visitation of the 
Sick " was struck out, as well as the rubric requiring 
that the sick person " shall be moved to make a special 
confession of his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled 
with any weighty matter." 

In the Catechism the words "verily and indeed 
taken and received " were changed to " spiritually 
taken and received." In the first exhortation before 
the Communion service, the words "discreet and 
learned," as applied to the minister, are omitted, as 
well as the subsequent reference to " the benefit of 
absolution." In the Ordinal, the words " Eeceive ye 
the Holy Ghost," and "whose sins thou dost forgive 
they are forgiven," &c, were allowed to remain; but 
any bishop was permitted to substitute another form, 
viz. : " Take thou authority to execute the office of a 
priest in the Church of God, now committed to thee 
by the imposition of our hands." 

A fourth kind of alterations must be traced to certain 
ideas of delicacy and refinement which, though some- 
times questionable, it was deemed proper to respect. 
In the Te Deum, the second half of the sixteenth verse 
was changed to " Thou didst humble thyself to be born 
of a Virgin." In the Litany the eighth petition begins 
with the words " From all inordinate and sinful 
affections." The Marriage Service, for a similar reason, 
was greatly abridged, and the public use of entire 
chapters of Holy Scripture, though sanctioned by the 



Delicacy, Grammar, and Climate. 153 

Church of England, was abolished. The 127th Psalm was 
struck from the " Churching " service, and, to save the 
feelings of the person principally concerned, permission 
was given to omit the entire service and to substitute a 
short collect. But the American women have gone 
even a step beyond this, and have dispensed alike with 
the service and with the collect. 

& fifth class of changes originated in a wish for im- 
proved grammatical accuracy. " Our Father tuhich art 
in heaven " was changed to " Our Father who art in 
heaven ; " as in England the expression in the Creed, 
"ivhich was conceived," had already given place to the 
present form. " In earth " became (S on earth," and 
i( them that trespass," " those who trespass." Through- 
out the Liturgy, " them which " gave place to " those 
who." In the Apostles' Creed, "rose again" was 
altered to " rose," although the former has the sanction 
of the authorised version of Holy Scripture. Other 
variations of the same kind might be mentioned, the 
utility of which may be doubted, while it is certain that 
they confuse and annoy those who have been accus- 
tomed to the older form in England or the colonies. 

A sixth kind of changes arose from a wish to shorten 
the service, which in America, considering the great 
extremes of heat and cold, is often more excusable than 
it would be in our temperate climate. In that new 
country, too, where the rural population is widely scat- 
tered, persons often come ten or twelve miles to church, 
and evening prayer frequently follows morning service 
with only an intermission of half an hour, in order to 



1 54 Liturgical Revision. 

give the worshippers time to return home by daylight. 
Greater liberty, therefore, was necessary than in an old 
and thickly inhabited country like our own. I have 
already mentioned that the proposal to abolish the first 
four petitions in the Litany was unsuccessful. The 
latter part of that service, from " Christ, hear us," to 
" We humbly beseech thee," was, however, bracketed, 
the minister being allowed to omit it at his discretion. 
The short Absolution in the Communion office was 
allowed to be substituted for the ordinary one in 
morning and evening prayer. The Nicene Creed might 
at any time be substituted for that of the Apostles; 
but in such cases it was omitted in the Communion 
service, so that the two are never read during the same 
morning prayer. The wish to abbreviate may also have 
assisted in promoting other changes, some of which 
have been noticed under different headings, such as the 
abolition of several repetitions of the Lord's Prayer in 
the same service. The omission of the words " Lighten 
our darkness " is accounted for by the curious reason 
that, in country places, evening prayer was often cele- 
brated at one o'clock, in the full blaze of day. 

A seventh class of alterations grew out of the early 
connection of the American Church with the Episcopal 
Church of Scotland through Bishop Seabury. These 
changes, in their theological bearing, savoured of a 
school very far from latitudinarian. The most noted 
instance in the Prayer-book is the approximation of 
the Communion office to that of the Scottish Episcopal 
Church. The prayers of Oblation and Invocation, 



Prayer-book of Edward VI. 155 

omitted in the second Prayer-book of Edward VI., were 
restored to the place which they held in the firsts and 
the prayer of consecration was shortened by the omis- 
sion of the whole passage beginning " Hear us, mer- 
ciful Father," and ending with " His most blessed body 
and blood." The Baptismal Service remained unaltered, 
as in the English Prayer-book, the Church doctrine 
respecting regeneration being then little questioned. 

Besides the changes mentioned above, there were 
some new services added. A form for the consecration 
of churches, similar to that which is commonly used in 
England, was set forth by authority of the Convention 
and printed in the Prayer-book. An office was adopted 
for the institution of ministers into parishes or churches, 
in which the minister returns public thanks for the 
Divine promise "to be with the ministers of apostolic 
succession to the end of the world." A form for the 
" Visitation of Prisoners " was adopted from the Irish 
Prayer-book, in which confession and satisfaction are 
required of the guilty person, and absolution is given 
by the priest. A form of prayer for families was 
abridged from the Family Devotions of Bishop Gibson, 
and inserted just before the Psalms. A form of thanks- 
giving for the fruits of the earth was appointed for the 
first Tuesday in every November, or on such other day 
as may be appointed by the civil authority. A prayer 
was set forth and required to be used in all the 
churches during the meetings of the General Conven- 
tion. The two great commandments of our Lord were 
ordered to be read after the Ten Commandments. 



156 Liturgical Revision. 

Three sentences were prefixed to those at the opening 
of morning and evening prayer. A selection of Psalms, 
fixed portions of which might be used at discretion 
instead of the Psalms for the day, was also agreed upon. 
This was done partly with the design of shortening the 
service when it might be deemed expedient to do so, and 
partly to avoid the imprecations contained in several 
of the Psalms, which were regarded by some as hardly 
consistent with the objects of Christian worship. Two 
hundred and twelve hymns were, at a comparatively 
recent date, set forth by the Convention and published 
with the Prayer-book, and ultimately a modified selec- 
tion from Tate and Brady was in like manner authorised. 
The Thirty-nine Articles were not finally established and 
printed with the Prayer-book until 1801. With some 
exceptions, already mentioned, they are almost word 
for word identical with those of England, and it is to be 
particularly noticed that the third article, on Christ's 
going down into Hell, is the same with our own. In the 
eighth article the mention of the Athanasian Creed is 
omitted. The heading of the twenty-first, "Of the 
Authority of Greneral Councils," is retained, though the 
article itself is omitted. A note is appended to the 
thirty -fifth, suspending the order for the reading of the 
Homilies in churches. The thirty-sixth refers the 
authority of the Ordinal to the Greneral Convention 
instead of Parliament. The thirty-seventh, on the 
" power of the civil magistrate," is as follows : " The 
power of the civil magistrate extendeth to all men, as 
well clergy as laity, in all things temporal, but hath no 



Dangers of Revision. 157 

authority in things purely spiritual. And we hold it 
to be the duty of all men who are professors of the 
Gospel, to pay respectful obedience to the civil autho- 
rity, regularly and legitimately constituted." 

Bishop Seabury doubted the expediency of adopting 
the Articles, presuming that all necessary doctrine 
would be comprehended in the Liturgy. Bishop 
Madison, for different reasons, gave a very decided 
opinion against Articles altogether. Even now, the 
Articles are not subscribed as in England, according 
to the tenor of our thirty-sixth Canon ; and the obliga- 
tion of them rests solely on the promise made at Ordi- 
nation. Nor are any persons required to give a plenary 
assent and consent to everything contained in the 
Prayer-book. 

The history of American Liturgical Eevision affords 
on the one hand a remarkable instance of the over- 
ruling providence of God ; while on the other hand it 
furnishes a memorable example of the danger of 
hastily meddling with that which has been once settled 
by competent authority. The American Church itself 
is now so well aware of this danger, that it has bound 
itself by stringent regulations not to allow of further 
alterations until the proposed changes have been dis- 
cussed during three years at least, and have been 
duly considered by the Conventions in the several 
States. 

It is but fair to mention that some of the arrange- 
ments of the American rubrics and rituals harmonise 
with recent recommendations of several committees ap- 



158 Liturgical Revision. 

pointed by the revived Convocation of the province of 
Canterbury. Among these may be specified the ad- 
mission of parents as sponsors ; the permission of a 
third service, considerably abridged, though not actually 
printed in the Prayer-book ; the adoption of an autho- 
rised hymnal ; and the appointment of an annual thanks- 
giving for the fruits of the earth. 

The Preface to the American Prayer-book asks the 
reader to consider the work " with a meek, candid, and 
charitable frame of mind." If it be really viewed in 
this spirit, there will be found no reason to doubt its 
orthodoxy, whatever disapproval may be felt in regard 
to some of its details. Though the daily offices, like 
those of the Orientals, are without the Athanasian Creed, 
yet all the doctrines of that creed are substantially 
taught and professed, and never more earnestly than at 
present. The eighth Article acknowledges the Nicene 
Creed, which also has its place in the service, and the 
first five Articles prove that the American Church is 
neither Nestorian nor Eutychian. " After fifty years," * 
says a distinguished American layman, " without the 
Athanasian Creed in the Prayer-book, we understand 
and love it, and were it now part of the book, it could 
not be stricken out. The laity would be the last to 
touch it." 

I have already mentioned that the omission of the 
sign of the cross in baptism is never desired. To this 
may now be added, that the Apostles' Creed is almost 

* Letter of " H. D. E." in the Church Eeview for 1859. 



Orthodoxy of the Church. i^g 

universally repeated as in England, and that the Psalms 
for the day are usually preferred to the Selections. If 
any doubt still remained as to the identity of the faith 
of the American Church with our own, it ought to be 
fully set at rest by the memorable declaration prefixed 
to the Prayer-book : " This Church is far from intending 
to depart from the Church of England in any essential 
point of doctrine, discipline, or worship, or further than 
local circumstances require," 



1 60 Ecclesiastical Arrangements. 



CHAP. VII. 



ECCLESIASTICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



CHURCH LEGISLATURES INDEPENDENT OF THE STATE. ADMISSION OF THE 

LAITY. PAROCHIAL ORGANISATION. — ENDOWMENTS. — POSITION OF THE 

CLERGYMAN. — DIOCESAN ORGANISATION. THE DIOCESAN CONTENTION. — 

THE STANDING COMMITTEE. — THE BISHOP. — EPISCOPAL MAINTENANCE. — 

ELECTION OF BISHOPS. ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. — TRIAL OF BISHOPS. — 

THE GENERAL CONVENTION. — VOTE BY ORDERS. OPENING AND CLOSE 

OF THE SESSION. — DIGEST OF THE CANONS. SATISFACTORY PROGRESS 

OF THE CHURCH. 

HEN, in. the course of Divine Provi- 
dence," says the Preface to the Ameri- 
can Prayer-book, " these States became 
independent with respect to civil go- 
vernment, their ecclesiastical independ- 
ence was necessarily included." Nor was this all. 
The Church was left free to act without legislative 
control on the part of the State Governments or 
of Congress. Like all Christian denominations it 
had a right to expect protection of its property, 
and this it has generally received. But it did not 
seek or desire the interference or consent of legis- 
latures, presidents, or governors, in the enactment 
of canons or the establishment of rules of discipline. 
Indeed, it was perfectly clear that a close connection 




The Parish. 161 



with governments composed of persons generally alien 
to the Church, would have been an incalculable injury 
rather than an advantage. The Church in America had 
suffered great prejudice from the opinion that the 
royal supremacy was one of its essentials, rather than 
an accidental circumstance. Henceforth there was to 
be no ground left for such a misconception. The real 
danger was that public opinion, backed by democratic 
institutions, would become more powerful than a royal 
supremacy which, decides controverted points according 
to law, and would override the authority of bishops and 
clergy, canons and rubrics alike. 

In order to avert this danger, we have seen that it 
was considered necessary to employ the laity very 
largely in the general and local management of Church 
affairs. It was foreseen that they would not yield a 
ready concurrence in regulations which they had no 
share in making, and that merely clerical government 
was out of the question. To explain sufficiently the 
ecclesiastical arrangements of the American Church, it 
will be necessary to describe the principal modes of 
organisation, as they are Parochial, Diocesan, and 
General. 

We begin, then, with the parochial organisation, as 
the basis of the whole. For certain canonical purposes, 
a parish is declared to be boimded by the limits, as fixed 
by law, of any village, town, township, borough, city, or 
the limits of some division thereof, recognised by the 
bishop.* In some cases, as in Maryland for example, 



* Digest of American Canons, p. 31. 
31 



1 6% Ecclesiastical Arrangements. 

a geographical demarcation of parishes was effected in 
the colonial times, and is acknowledged at the present 
day. In common parlance, however, and in ordinary 
practice, a " parish " is not regarded as a district, but 
rather as consisting of the persons in any neighbourhood 
who are attached to the doctrine, discipline, and worship 
of the Church. The minister of the congregation may 
be expected to use his exertions to increase the number 
of these persons ; still, for most practical purposes, those 
who attend his church, or receive the benefit of his 
ministrations, constitute his parish. A parish is " or- 
ganised," in the first instance, in a public meeting, at 
which the persons present (having been induced to the 
step by the exhortations of a clergyman, or by their 
own convictions) declare their adhesion to the prin- 
ciples of the Church, according to a formula prescribed 
by the diocesan authorities. The regulations respecting 
organisation vary in the different dioceses; yet, in 
every case, the incipient parish adopts certain articles, 
in which it accedes to the constitution, canons, and 
discipline of the "American Episcopal Church." At 
this primary meeting, also, the parish takes its name 
(St. Peter's or St. Paul's, for instance), and appoints, 
by ballot, eight or ten vestrymen, two churchwardens, 
and one or more lay delegates, to represent it in the 
Diocesan Convention or Synod. At the next annual 
meeting of the Diocesan Convention, these delegates 
apply for admission as members of that ecclesiastical 
assembly, and are never refused if the articles of asso- 
ciation, on examination, prove to be correct. The 



Endowments. 163 



clergyman, if in priest's orders, becomes ex officio a 
member of the same Convention. 

In many of the northern States, a parish is usually 
incorporated by the Legislature of the State (on its own 
application), like a railway company, an institution of 
learning, or the congregations of dissenting bodies. 
After incorporation, it has the power of holding pro- 
perty, and may sue or be sued in the ordinary courts 
of law. In Virginia and some other States of the 
South, there is a jealousy of all ecclesiastical corpo- 
rations, and Church-property can only be held through 
the medium of trustees. Yet, as a general rule, a 
parish can gain and keep possession of endowments, and 
may enforce, if necessary, by legal process, the collec- 
tion of its rents and of subscribed money. 

The next steps, probably, are to elect a clergyman, 
by the vote of the vestry, and to erect such a church 
as may be deemed suitable. In the course of time the 
parish, perhaps, builds a parsonage, which, together 
with the church, burying-ground, or any other endow- 
ment, is its own property as a corporation. 

There was nothing in the constitution of the United 
States to prevent any particular State from possessing 
an established religion, and consequently the Eevolution 
did not necessarily affect any of the laws which the 
several Assemblies had passed in favour of the Church. 
In Virginia, for instance, although the Legislature 
soon stopped the annual payments of tobacco to the 
clergy, the glebes, parsonages, and churches remained 
intact as late as 1802. In that year it was declared 

M 2 



1 64 Ecclesiastical Arrangements. 

by the Assembly that the property held by the Church 
before the Eevolution was vested in the State at large. 
Wherever there was a clergyman actually in charge 
of a parish, the congregation was suffered to retain 
the use of the church. But, since few clergymen 
remained, it happened in very many instances that 
church, churchyard, glebe, parsonage, and communion 
plate were all sold, ostensibly for the benefit of the 
public, but really at little more than nominal prices. 
Some of the churches were bought by the Anabaptists 
and turned into conventicles, some few became acade- 
mies, some were eventually recovered by the Church, 
but many went into a state of dilapidation and ruin in 
which they continue to the present day. 

In Maryland, although the tobacco payment was lost, 
the glebes and other property were secured by the 
Legislature to the Church, " with a sense of justice," 
says Judge Hoffman, " most commendable in those 
days." I have already mentioned the noble endowment 
held by the vestry of Trinity Church, New York, origi- 
nating in a gift of Queen Anne, and now amounting in 
value to more than a million and a half of pounds 
sterling. The lands in Vermont, given by Wentworth, 
the colonial governor, as " glebes " to the Church of 
England, and as " rights " to the Society for Propagating 
the Grospel, were applied by the State to the support of 
education. As late as 1819 an action was brought 
against the State of Vermont, under authority of the 
above Society, for the recovery of the "rights," and 
finally, in 1823, after long litigation, was decided by 



Pew-rents. 165 



the Supreme Court of the United States in favour of 
the claimants. At present the "rights " made over by 
the Society to the Church in Vermont, and amounting 
to half of the original number, produce not far from one 
thousand pounds per annum.* The " glebes/' on the 
other hand, were lost for ever, the title being defective. 
There are other endowments in different parts of 
America, provided by donors before and since the Ke- 
volution ; but, as a general rule, the parish is obliged to 
depend on its own exertions for every expenditure con- 
nected with the erection and repairs of the church and 
parsonage, the maintenance of the clergyman and his 
assistants, the salary of the organist, and the general 
cost of Divine worship. In a few cases these ex- 
penses are provided from a weekly offertory, and still 
oftener from annual subscriptions, but in the great ma- 
jority of cases from pew-rents. The sums raised by the 
people in large places are often exceedingly liberal, and 
frequently, in country villages, altogether the reverse. 
Many new churches in America have been erected of 
the best materials, and in good ecclesiastical style, at an 
expense of ten or twenty thousand pounds, while others 
are plain and cheap wooden structures, costing a few 
hundreds. The price of a pew may be in the first in- 
stance a hundred and fifty pounds, besides an annual 
assessment by the vestry of ten or twenty pounds in 
addition. On the other hand, there may be merely a 
rent of twenty or thirty shillings. The stipend of a 

* See the article "Church. Lands in Vermont" in the Church 
Review for January, 1852. 

M 3 



1 66 Ecclesiastical Arrangements. 

clergyman in large cities may be well and punctually 
paid to the amount of a thousand or twelve hundred 
pounds a year, while in the country, or in new con- 
gregations, it may be as low as two or three hundred 
dollars, and even that by no means certain. 

In the absence of any better source of revenue, the 
system of pew-rents has injured the Church in America 
by its inevitable tendency to keep poor people, strangers 
and emigrants, at a distance. Persons of this kind 
beyond the Atlantic are exceedingly sensitive, and 
many of them will on no account accept a free seat 
in a church or meeting-house where the sale or 
letting of pews is the general rule. Eather than 
bear the expense of a good seat, or what they would 
consider the shame of a free or cheap one, they prefer 
to stay at home and to live in practical heathenism. 
Happily, in America, the poor are a much smaller class 
than with us. There are also a few churches open to 
all without cost, and supported, as I have stated, by the 
offertory, or by individual benefactors. It may be 
added that, as in England, aversion to the pew-system 
is increasing, and that daily service with frequent Com- 
munions is becoming more and more common. 

The position of the clergyman in regard to his people 
implies a greater degree of dependence than a sound 
Church theory seems to warrant. This dependence 
existed even in Virginia and Maryland long before the 
Eevolution. But the constant expansion of the Church 
renders it, at present, easy to obtain a new parochial 
charge, and it is seldom that a really faithful and well- 



The Diocese. 167 



qualified clergyman has just reason to complain. Be- 
sides, the clergy are, in almost every case, native 
Americans, and are accustomed to see perpetual changes 
in all offices in the gift of the people. Hence, in their 
pastoral relations, they are prepared for a degree of 
uncertainty which to a quiet English rector would 
appear intolerable. 

On Easter Monday in every year, the pewholders 
meet for the election of a vestry and of delegates to the 
Diocesan Convention. The number of delegates sent 
by each parish varies in the different dioceses. In 
Virginia and Maryland, for instance, each parish sends 
as many lay deputies as it has clergy. In Connecticut, 
each parish is entitled to one delegate, and, if it con- 
sist of more than fifty families, to two. In some 
dioceses it is required by the diocesan canons that a lay 
delegate shall be a communicant; but in others it is 
deemed the wiser course to leave this point to the dis- 
cretion of the parishes electing. So, also, in some 
dioceses, every lay delegate has a separate vote in the 
Convention, while, in others, the lay delegates sent from 
each parish (however numerous) have but one vote 
conjointly. 

We are now prepared to consider the second organisa- 
tion, namely, the diocesan. A diocese (unlike a parish) 
is circumscribed by certain fixed geographical limits, 
and generally consists of all the organised parishes 
within any single State. As the jurisdiction of an 
American bishop is considered to extend to persons 

M 4 



1 68 Ecclesiastical Arrangements. 

rather than to places, his strictly correct title is that of 
" Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State 
or Diocese of ." 

The great increase of the Church in some States 
has led the ecclesiastical authority to provide for the 
subdivision of Dioceses. Dioceses too have been some- 
times formed by the labours of missionary bishops. But, 
from the peculiar circumstances of the American Church, 
a diocesan organisation has often preceded the exis- 
tence of the episcopate within its limits. Every diocese 
meets annually in its own Convention for purposes of a 
local character. The bishop presides, and in a few 
instances has a qualified veto on the proceedings. But 
as the weightier matters of the Church are disposed of 
in the General Convention, where the House of Bishops 
now exercises an unqualified veto, the want of that 
power in the Diocesan Conventions, strange as it may 
seem, is less to be regretted. Every clergyman in 
charge of a parish is ex officio (as I have already stated) 
a member of the Convention of the diocese in which he 
officiates. In most dioceses, chaplains in the army and 
navy, and clerical professors in colleges and incor- 
porated seminaries, are also admitted to seats and votes. 
Besides the clergy, the Convention embraces (as before 
stated) the lay delegates from the parishes. 

The proceedings of the Convention are commenced 
in church by solemn religious services, including the 
Holy Communion and a sermon preached by some 
clergyman nominated by the bishop. The bishop then 
calls the Convention to order, a list of the clergy en- 



The Convention. i6g 

titled to seats is read, and the lay delegates produce the 
evidence of their election to a committee appointed for 
the purpose by the bishop. After this, every clergyman 
presents to the bishop a written report of the state of 
his parish, with an account of the number of communi- 
cants and Sunday scholars, the amount of contributions 
for Church purposes, and other useful statistics.* 

The bishop then delivers his annual address, in which 
he refers to the deaths among the clergy during the last 
year, gives an account of his episcopal acts within the 
same space of time, and often bestows praise on those 
clergymen or laymen who have exerted themselves to 
good purpose. He states his plans for future improve- 
ment, and suggests the adoption of such regulations 
as may appear to him desirable. He mentions particu- 
larly the number of Ordinations, Confirmations, and Con- 
secrations performed by him since the last meeting, 
and often succeeds in quickening the zeal of the assem- 
bled representatives of his diocese. 

After the bishop's address usually follow the appli- 
cations of new parishes to be admitted into union with 
the Convention. Then the Convention elects by ballot 
a kind of chapter called the Standing Committee, 
generally composed of clergy and laity, and possessing 
very peculiar and important powers. The Convention 
elects, in the same way, four clergymen and four lay- 
men as its representatives in the General Convention. 
It also appoints trustees for any colleges or academies 

* See the Appendix. 



1 70 Ecclesiastical Arrangements. 

under its jurisdiction, as well as its quota of trustees 
for the Greneral Theological Seminary of the Church, 
established at New York. 

The next and last business, perhaps, is the enactment 
of new Diocesan Canons, or the revision of old ones. 
Considerable latitude is allowed to the subject-matter 
of these local canons ; but in no case may they conflict 
with the supreme canons of the Greneral Convention, or 
with the Eubrics of the Prayer-book, or the Articles of 
the Church. Thus, for instance, they prescribe the 
mode of admitting parishes into union with the diocese, 
the qualifications requisite for membership in the 
Diocesan Convention, the method of providing for con- 
tingent expenses, the keeping of parish registers, and 
the promotion of Church principles within the bounds 
of the diocese. A really good and influential bishop, 
possessing the respect and affection of his flock, will 
usually, in the course of time, secure (without direct 
interference) the establishment of a sound and useful 
code of diocesan regulations. 

Although elections in the Diocesan Convention are 
usually by ballot, the voting on ordinary matters is viva 
voce, the bishop putting the question and declaring 
whether the ayes or noes preponderate. The clergy and 
laity usually vote together in one body; but at any 
time, when a few members require it, they may separate 
into two bodies, when a majority of both is requisite 
before any resolution or canon can pass. By this 
ingenious piece of ecclesiastical mechanism, it is so 
arranged that neither the clergy nor the laity can justly 



The Bishop. 171 



complain of the undue interference of either party, in 
doctrinal questions or otherwise. 

I have alluded to the Standing Committee as a kind 
of Diocesan Chapter. In Maryland and Connecticut it 
consists wholly of priests, seven in the former and^fe 
in the latter. But, generally speaking, the members of 
it consist of equal numbers of priests and laymen, and 
if any of the latter are not communicants the responsi- 
bility rests with the Diocesan Assembly electing them. 
The Standing Committee is a council of advice to the 
bishop. During a vacancy of the Episcopate, it super- 
intends candidates for orders by its clerical members, 
grants letters dimissory and testimonials to the characters 
of clergymen removing, and invites the bishop of some 
neighbouring diocese to perform episcopal acts. It dis- 
charges, in a measure, the duties of the Diocesan Con- 
vention during its recess, but possesses no authority to 
legislate on Church matters. Nor can any person be 
ordained a deacon or priest without testimonials from 
the Standing Committee of the diocese to which he 
belongs. 

An American bishop is addressed simply as " Eight 
Keverend Sir " or " Bishop," the usual English title of 
honour having always been carefully avoided. His 
power appears checked on every side, not only by pre- 
vailing democracy, but by the constitution and canons 
of the Church itself. Yet, as his appointment is derived 
from the free choice of the clergy and laity of his 
diocese, he often gains as much in personal influence as 
he may appear to have lost in titles of honour and in 



IJZ Ecclesiastical Arrangements. 

direct authority. The American bishops are free from 
certain traditional associations with patronage, social 
eminence and abounding wealth, which, in England, may 
have tended sometimes to obscure the real religious dig- 
nity of the episcopal office. Their position also is one 
which they hold for life, while the offices of the State are 
usually tenable but for a few years. Hence they may 
in the course of time gather around them much of 
that loyal veneration which in other countries attaches 
itself to the civil rulers, but which the American 
Kepublic has seen fit to dispense with. An American 
bishop must necessarily be a considerable traveller, as 
an average diocese, including those in the west, does 
not materially differ from all England in dimensions. 
The number of bishops in the United States is now 
forty-three, the want of endowments being seldom per- 
mitted to delay the election of new prelates as they may 
be required. 

The support of the bishop in the different dioceses 
is derived from various sources. In some, for example, 
the people have voluntarily raised large sums, which, 
being invested on good security, produce a competent 
income. A sum exceeding eighty-four thousand dollars 
has been contributed in New York, which realises about 
a thousand pounds a year. A house was also purchased 
and furnished for the bishop, who was thus enabled to 
devote himself wholly to his episcopal work. In Western 
New York an endowment of fifty thousand dollars gives 
the bishop above 6001. a year. In Connecticut the 
capital of the Episcopal Fund amounted in 1859 to 



Election of Bishops. 173 

twenty-seven thousand dollars, producing, with some 
augmentations, 700L per annum. In Pennsylvania the 
endowment is about the same in amount as in Western 
New York. In Maryland, a similar fund, increased 
by parochial contributions, produces nearly \200l. per 
annum. In South Carolina the bishop's endowment is 
sixty-eight thousand dollars, yielding him nearly 9001. 
per annum. In some dioceses, the parishes assess 
themselves in their annual Convention for the support 
of their bishop. In the newer dioceses the bishop 
sometimes derives his maintenance from a parish 
of which he has been appointed rector, consequently 
accepting a double charge and responsibility. In 
others, again, which may be regarded as missionary 
ground, the bishop receives a fixed stipend from mis- 
sionary contributions raised under the authority of the 
Greneral Convention. 

A diocese becomes vacant, in most cases, only by the 
death of the bishop, as the Church does not sanction 
translations. When a vacancy occurs, instead of a 
conge cVelire, the Standing Committee summons a 
special Diocesan Convention, which is duly constituted 
in the usual way. The clergy and laity then separate 
into two distinct Houses, and a majority of both orders, 
voting by ballot, is necessary to an election. In most 
of the dioceses, the clergy nominate the person whom 
they prefer, and the laity have the power of either 
rejecting or affirming the nomination. After the 
election (which usually aifords an opportunity for a 
trial of strength to Church parties), notice is sent to all 



1 74 Ecclesiastical Arrangements. 

the Standing Committees in the American Church, a 
majority of which must confirm the election before the 
second step of it is complete ; and, thirdly, a majority 
of all the bishops must approve of the person chosen. 
After this, the Presiding Bishop (who is always the 
eldest by consecration) nominates two other bishops to 
assist him in consecrating the bishop-elect, and appoints 
the time and place for the performance of the sacred 
rite. But if the bishop be elected during the year 
previous to a meeting of the General Convention, the 
Standing Committees and the Bishops are not sepa- 
rately consulted, the consent of the chief council of the 
Church being deemed a sufficient confirmation of the 
election. 

When a bishop is unable to perform his episcopal 
duties by reason of old age or permanent infirmity, an 
assistant bishop may be elected, with the right of suc- 
cession. Missionary bishops for foreign countries or 
States and Territories not organised as dioceses, are 
elected by the General Convention, on the nomination 
of the House of Bishops. 

Although the senior bishop has duties which in some 
measure correspond with those of a Primate, there are 
as yet no archbishops, deans, archdeacons, or rural deans, 
and the increase of ecclesiastical titles beyond those of 
bishop, priest, and deacon, is generally deprecated. 

The department of the judiciary in the American 
Church is still in an imperfect condition, though some 
improvements have recently been effected. Trials of 
priests and deacons for heresy or immorality are con- 



Canons. 1 75 



ducted by courts of clergymen, constituted by the 
bishops of each diocese, according to their respective 
diocesan canons. No appeal from these courts can be 
carried to any superior body; the Conventions, both 
general and diocesan, being simply legislative assemblies, 
and in no respect courts of appeal. 

All the religious bodies or denominations in the 
United States possess the right to try and to depose 
their ministers or members, provided they adhere in the 
trial to their own acknowledged canons or regulations. 
If the accused consider himself aggrieved, he may apply 
to the civil courts, which will institute proceedings to 
ascertain whether these canons or regulations have 
been strictly followed in the trial, but will not under- 
take to review the evidence. If it appear that the 
rules of the denomination have been followed, the 
accused has no alternative but to submit. In 1853, 
Bishop Wainwright, of New York, was withheld, by an 
injunction of the Supreme Court of New York, from 
pronouncing sentence of deposition on a clergyman con- 
victed by an ecclesiastical court of immorality. The 
Bishop, in defending himself, was put to an expense 
of nearly a thousand pounds; but the sentence was 
eventually pronounced, and the guilty person deposed. 
The laity afterwards subscribed and repaid the Bishop 
his expenses. 

For the trial of bishops, the general canons of 
the American Church have made very elaborate pro- 
vision. None but a bishop may pronounce sentence of 
admonition, suspension, or degradation on any clergy- 



176 Ecclesiastical Arrangements. 

man, whether bishop, priest, or deacon. The trial of 
lay communicants is conducted according to the re- 
spective diocesan canons. The offences for which they 
may be subjected to discipline are specified in the 
rubric, which is the same with that in the English 
Prayer-book. 

As the confederated States in the American Union 
are represented by Congress, so the different dioceses 
united in the Church are represented by the General 
Convention. This body meets once in three years, on the 
first Wednesday in October, at some place determined 
at the previous session. Special meetings may also be 
held when required by the exigencies of the Church. 
The General Convention is composed of two Houses, 
the consent of both of which is necessary to the passing 
of any act or canon. The Upper House consists of all 
the bishops, excepting those engaged in foreign missions. 
It meets with closed doors (reporters not being admitted), 
probably with the object of defending itself as much as 
possible against passing and external influences. The 
senior bishop presides, while a clergyman appointed for 
the purpose acts as secretary. The number of bishops 
now entitled to seats in this truly venerable body is 
thirty-eight 

The Lower House consists of the clerical and lay 
deputies, four of each from every diocese, and, if full, 
would now contain a hundred and thirty-six clergymen 
and as many laymen. It elects some able clergyman as 
its chairman or prolocutor. The debates are open to 
the public, and parliamentary forms are strictly observed. 



General Convention. ijj 

Among the lay members (who, by a late provision, must 
always be communicants) are found persons distinguished 
as lawyers, judges, governors, and members of Congress or 
the State Legislatures. Thus some of the best talents of 
the country are enlisted in the work of Church Legis- 
lation, and the practical knowledge of the laity gives 
point and efficiency to the zeal of the clergy. When 
the deputies from any diocese require it, the Lower 
House may practically subdivide itself into a House of 
Laity and a House of Clergy, when the consent of both 
is requisite to every act or resolution. The Constitution 
of the Church declares that "in all questions, when 
required by the clerical and lay representatives from any 
diocese, each order shall have one vote ; and the majority 
of suffrages by dioceses shall be conclusive in each 
order, provided such majority comprehend a majority 
of the dioceses represented in that order. The concur- 
rence of both orders shall be necessary to constitute a 
vote of the Convention." By this provision, not only 
are the clergy and laity protected from mutual aggres- 
sion, but dioceses which may happen to be feebly 
represented are saved from being overborne by those 
which may have sent their full number of deputies. 

At the opening of the General Convention, both 
Houses unite in public worship in some large church 
which supplies in its galleries accommodation for the 
ladies and the numerous spectators who delight in such 
meetings. The opening sermon is usually preached by 
one of the bishops. The Holy Communion is celebrated, 
and sometimes a thousand or fifteen hundred communi- 

N 



178 'Ecclesiastical Arrangements, 

cants partake of the sacred feast. The bishops in their 
robes, and generally with the additional dignity of grey 
hairs, appear to great advantage on these occasions. 
Divine Service having closed, the business of the Conven- 
tion begins in the church itself. The bishops retire to 
the vestry or schoolroom, and organise the Upper House. 
The Lower House elects a Chairman and Secretary, and 
the roll is called by dioceses, as in our own Convocation of 
Canterbury. The session usually continues during se- 
veral weeks, at the close of which the bishops address a 
pastoral letter to the whole Church, both Houses unite 
in chanting the Gloria in excelsis, and the proceed- 
ings terminate with a solemn benediction from the 
senior bishop. 

The General Convention enacts, modifies, or repeals 
canons of a general character as distinguished from 
the local diocesan canons. These general canons, 
having been enacted as circumstances required, are 
practicable, intelligible, and suited to the necessities of 
the times. They certainly present a striking contrast 
to the English canons, which have remained unchanged 
since the age of the Stuarts, and consequently are far 
from creditable to our Church and nation. 

There are twenty canons on the " Ministry, Doctrine, 
and Worship." * Under this title the lately published 
Digest of the Canons includes the regulations concerning 
the three orders of the ministry, candidates for Orders, 
provisions and qualifications for ordination ; the duties of 

* Digest of the Canons. Pudney and Eussell, New York, 1860. 



General Canons. 



*79 



bishops, priests, and deacons ; the mode of securing an 
accurate view of the state of the Church — of publishing- 
authorised editions of the Bible and Prayer-book — of the 
celebration of Sundays, parochial instruction, and the 
use of the Liturgy. 

Twelve canorfs refer to discipline, and regulate cita- 
tions, trials of clerical offenders, the dissolution of 
pastoral connections, sentences, the discipline of the 
laity, and other similar matters. 

The six following canons refer to the organised bodies 
and officers of the Church. These include the Greneral 
Convention, the Standing Committees, the Trustees of 
the Missionary Bishops' Fund and of the Greneral 
Theological Seminary, congregations and parishes at 
home and abroad, and the organisation of new dioceses. 

Under the fourth and last head are arranged three 
provisions respecting the repeal, amendment, and enact- 
ment of new canons, and of the time of these canons 
taking effect. 

In 1817, the attention of the Convention was called 
to the existence of numerous corruptions of the autho- 
rised version of Scripture, arising from the want of any 
supervision over the printers and publishers of the 
Bible in the United States. After some discussion of 
the subject, the English edition of Eyre and Strahan 
was recommended in 1823, as the standard of the 
American Church until she might put forth an edition 
of her own. 

The Greneral Convention manages the Missions of 
the Church at home and abroad by means of a Board 

N 2 



180 Ecclesiastical Arrangements, 

of Missions triennially elected. This Convention has 
also power to alter the Bubrics as well as the Services 
in the Prayer-book after three years' discussion in the 
Diocesan Conventions. It legislates on points touching 
relations between different dioceses, intercourse with 
foreign churches, and the advancement of the Gospel 
in heathen countries. 

The English reader must endeavour to dissociate this 
statement of "powers from all idea of State authority. 
Although the canons have not yet commanded that con- 
scientious and loving obedience which might be wished, 
they have yet been found, on the whole, adequate to the 
direction and limitation of the energies of the Church. 
American Churchmen are quite satisfied that at all events 
they would not gain additional force from any State 
enactments which under present circumstances might be 
conceived as possible. 

Whatever objections may be raised to the Constitu- 
tion of the American Church, and especially to the part 
taken by the laity, it is certain that a healthful progress 
has been visible, during the seventy years of its existence, 
in the action of the General Convention. It is conceded 
by the bishops and by others accustomed to watch the 
course of events, that the laity have proved themselves 
at least as conservative as the clergy, and that if they 
have ever hindered important legislation, the hindrance 
has been a wholesome check on premature or ill-con- 
sidered movements. Influenced by the combined piety 
and wisdom of the clergy and laity, and with a House of 
Bishops possessing a right of negative on the proceedings 



Constant Improvement. 181 

of the inferior orders, the American Church has shown 
no tendency to go back, or to diminish aught from the 
Faith. It is true that much remains to be supplied by 
the exertions of Churchmen. The Consecration of 
Burial-grounds, forgotten during the absence of bishops, 
is still generally a desideratum. The (( voluntary 
system " admits of improvement, so that the clergyman 
may be less directly dependent on the favour of a par- 
ticular congregation. The leaven of Puritanism, derived 
from surrounding influences, is susceptible of further 
wholesome correction. The remaining timidity, inhe- 
rited from the evil times when the Church was thankful 
for a bare existence, needs to be wholly swept away. 
Good regulations on Marriage and Divorce are yet to 
be established and obeyed. For the future we have 
reason to entertain sanguine hopes, since we believe that 
while the numerical increase of the American Church 
has been almost unprecedented, sound religious and 
ecclesiastical principles have constantly " grown with 
her growth, and strengthened with her strength." * 

* Church Journal, January, 1859. 



N 3 



1 83 The Political Union. 



CHAP. VIII. 

THE POLITICAL UNION. 

CONTINUED ADVANCE OF THE COUNTRY. — EXTENSION OF TERRITORY. 
— THE SUCCESSIVE PRESIDENTS. — PRINCIPAL EVENTS DURING EACH 

PRESIDENT'S INCUMBENCY.- — DANGERS OF THE NEW REPUBLIC. WANT 

OF A DEFINITE RELIGION.— DEFECTS IN EDUCATION. DECAY OF AUTHO- 
RITY. EMIGRATION. — UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE. DIVISION OF THE SPOILS. 

POPULAR ORATORY. — LICENTIOUSNESS OF THE PRESS. SLAVERY. 

PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES NOTWITHSTANDING THE DANGERS 
OF THE UNION. —GROWTH OF ABOLITIONISM. — ELECTION OF PRESIDENT 
LINCOLN. DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 

AVINGr considered the ecclesiastical organi- 
sation, we must now briefly trace the his- 
tory of the political union, the gradual 
development of the principles upon which 
it was constructed, and the general progress of the 
States by which it was constituted. 

After the establishment of Independence, the popu- 
lation continued to increase much in the same ratio as 
before the Eevolution. There was the same rich soil, 
there was the same productive climate, there was the 
same facility for obtaining all the necessaries and many 
of the comforts of existence. Marriages were still con- 
tracted early in life, large families were raised up and 
easily maintained, and emigrants continued to arrive 



Imi 



Extension of Territory. 1 83 

from Europe. The great West began to be occupied, 
and towns and cities arose in situations which had been 
known only as the haunt of wild animals and savage 
men. Vermont and Kentucky, formerly portions of 
New Hampshire and Virginia, were admitted into the 
Union as free and slave States respectively in 1791 ; 
and in 1796 Tennessee was in like manner separated 
from North Carolina, and advanced to the same dignity. 
Ohio followed in 1802, and, slavery being excluded 
from her soil, her population advanced in thirty years 
from seventy tJwusand to half a million. In 1803 the 
remaining French territory west of the Mississippi, now 
including Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, and Iowa, was 
purchased from France for the sum of fifteen millions 
of dollars. About the same time a treaty was made 
with the Kaskaskia and Delaware Indians, who trans- 
ferred to the United States the fertile district now con- 
stituting the States of Indiana and Illinois. In 1817 
and the four following years, Mississippi, Illinois, Ala- 
bama, Maine (formerly a part of Massachusetts), and 
Missouri came into the growing confederacy. The 
question of the admission of Missouri caused great ex- 
citement in Congress, and throughout the country.* 
The existence of slavery had given rise to conflicting 
interests between the North and South. The Northern 
members of Congress were generally in favour of the 
exclusion of slavery from the new State, while those of 
the South were determined that it should be permitted ; 

* M. Murray, p. 392. 
N 4 



184 The Political Uni 



non. 



each, section being desirous of possessing the balance of 
power in the federal government. The North yielded, 
and Missouri was added in 1821 to the slaveholding 
States, with a compromise (repealed in 1854) esta- 
blishing elsewhere the parallel of 36° 30' as the boundary 
between the slave and free States west of the Missis- 
sippi. In 1820 the territory of Alabama was admitted 
into the Union as a slave State. In 1821 East and 
West Florida were purchased from Spain at a cost of 
five millions of dollars. Arkansas and Florida, both 
slave countries, were placed about the same time under 
a territorial government, the President and Congress ex- 
ercising jurisdiction within their boundaries, until the 
growth of population entitled them to the rank of States, 
in 1836 and 1845 respectively. The Mexican province 
of Texas, having been settled in a great measure by 
Americans from the South, about this time revolted 
from Mexico, and adopted a constitution establishing 
slavery in the place of freedom. Being largely aided 
with men and means from the slaveholding communities, 
Texas was enabled to maintain its claim to indepen- 
dence, which was promptly recognised by the United 
States, England, and France. The Southern States, 
desiring to increase their political power, proposed the 
annexation of Texas as a slaveholding State, and, not- 
withstanding the protest of Mexico and the resistance 
of the Northern States of the Union, the measure was 
finally accomplished in 1845. Soon afterwards war was 
proclaimed against Mexico, although the measure re- 
ceived strong opposition from New England and from 



The Presidents. 185 

the friends of humanity and justice in general. The 
consequence was the annexation of California and New 
Mexico, a territory covering an area of eight hundred 
and fifty thousand square miles, being more than one- 
half of the entire Mexican dominions. California, beino- 
almost immediately enriched and peopled in consequence 
of the opportune discovery of gold, was admitted into 
the Union as a free State. Oregon and Washington, on 
the Pacific, were settled and became territories. Utah, 
colonised by the Mormons *, and Nebraska, between 
Missouri and the Eocky Mountains, soon occupied a 
similar position in the Eepnblic. Wisconsin, Iowa, and 
Minnesota, in the North-West, rapidly increased in 
population, and became respectively free States, and 
eventually Kansas, further south, was added to the 
confederation on terms prohibiting slavery. At the 
present time the number of States is thirty-four in place 
of the old thirteen. The area of the whole covers a 
space of about three millions of square miles, which is 
more than twenty-five times the extent of Great Britain 
and Ireland. 

During this rapid extension of territory there have 
been sixteen Presidents, of whom Washington, Jefferson, 
Madison, Monroe, and Jackson, being re-elected, held 
office during eight years each. John Adams succeeded 
Washington in 1797, and his son, John Quincy Adams, 



* For the history of the Mormons, see the Author's " Prophet of the 
Nineteenth Century " (Eiyingtons), and " America and the American 
Church " (Mozleys). 



The Political Union. 



was inaugurated in 1825, coming between Monroe and 
Jackson. Jackson was succeeded, in 1837, by Van 
Buren, who was followed by Harrison in 1841. After 
a short month in office Harrison died, and was suc- 
ceeded by Tyler, the Vice-President, according to the 
arrangements of the constitution. Polk was inaugu- 
rated in 1845, and Taylor in 1849. The latter was 
removed by death in 1850, and was succeeded by the 
Vice-President, Fillmore. Pierce became President in 
1853, Buchanan in 1857, and Abraham Lincoln took 
the oath of office in the present eventful year, 1861. 

The death of Washington took place unexpectedly in 
the winter of 1799. The character of the first Ame- 
rican President belongs rather to the old colonial days 
than to those of the Eepublic. In that character may be 
seen a type of human excellence to which it is difficult, 
on the whole, to find a parallel. Washington seems 
to have arisen ".to teach all ages, and especially those 
which are inclined to worship violence, the greatness of 
moderation, and civil duty." * " He grew up on the 
soil of America ; he was nurtured at her bosom. She 
loved and trusted him in his youth ; she honoured and 
revered him in his age ; and though she did not wait 
for death to canonise his name, his precious memory, 
with each succeeding year, has sunk more deeply 
into the hearts of his countrymen." f Yet it must 
not be forgotten that, ranking as he did with the old 



* Smith's Lecture before the University of Oxford, 1860. 
t Oration of the Hon. Edward Everett, 1860. 






The Capital. 187 



" Federalist " party, Washington was far from being 
democratic in his political principles, or sanguine as to 
the working of republican institutions. He was by no 
means averse to certain respectable and time-honoured 
observances which, though now associated in the Ame- 
rican mind with the pomp of monarchy, involve prin- 
ciples which cannot be neglected with impunity. 

Besides the great enlargements of territory already 
mentioned, the following events may be specified as having 
occurred during the times of the respective Presidents. 
Under the Presidency of Washington the public credit 
was restored, and a national bank was established, 
though violently opposed as aristocratic in its tendency 
and contrary to republicanism. A dangerous insurrec- 
tion in Pennsylvania, occasioned by a tax on spirits, 
was suppressed. The Indians in Ohio were subdued, 
and a treaty of peace effected. In 1793, the exports of 
the United States had risen to nineteen and a half mil- 
lions of dollars, while the imports were twenty millions. 
About the same time, by the invention of the cotton- 
gin, the cotton of the Southern States, which previously 
had scarcely sufficed for domestic consumption, became 
a staple production, and the value of negroes was in 
consequence greatly enhanced. 

While John Adams was President, the city of Wash- 
ington became the capital of the United States, and 
Congress assembled there for the first time in Novem- 
ber, 1800. There had been difficulties with the revo- 
ldtionary government of France, amounting, in fact, to 
a state of war, but peace was concluded about the date 



1 88 The Political Union. 

of the opening of the new (< Capitol." At the next 
election the federalists lost ground, and, the republican 
party coming into power, Jefferson, the infidel, was 
raised to the Presidency. He was a complete demo- 
crat, although, at the same time, a man of wealth and a 
considerable slave-owner. From this time the idea of 
the sovereignty of the people prevailed, and those who 
were formerly considered the chosen rulers of the 
nation were regarded merely as public servants. 

During Jefferson's eight years of power, the western 
country was explored as far as the Pacific by an expe- 
dition sent out by the government, under Lewis and 
Clarke. A war of several years' duration, and of 
doubtful advantage, was carried on against the petty 
state of Tripoli. Aaron Burr, the late Vice-President, 
after killing an eminent person in a duel, was accused 
of conspiring to erect the south-western portion of the 
Union into a separate government, and to invade 
Mexico, then a Spanish province. He was acquitted 
for want of sufficient evidence, but never altogether 
acquitted in the minds of the people. In the following 
year, 1807, Eobert Fulton constructed his first steam- 
boat, and a great impulse was consequently given to 
the progress of the country. The rivers and lakes of 
the West became highways, by which population and 
commerce were diffused over the immense districts now 
laid open to the enterprising settler. About the same 
time American manufactures received great encourage- 
ment from events connected with the war then 
raging between the British government and Napoleon. 



War with 'England. 189 

Great Britain had prohibited neutrals from trading 
with France or her allies, excepting on condition of 
paying her a tribute. On the other hand, Napoleon's 
"Milan Decree" declared that every neutral vessel 
submitting to pay this tribute should be confiscated. 
As the British government also insisted on the right of 
impressing seamen on board American ships, it became 
difficult to carry on foreign commerce with advantage, 
and the people turned their attention to the manufac- 
ture of those goods which previously had been imported 
from England. Henceforth New England became the 
chief seat of American manufactures. The coal and 
iron of Pennsylvania gained new value, and, as already 
mentioned, Pittsburgh became eventually the Birming- 
ham of the West. 

Early in the Presidency of Madison all intercourse 
was prohibited with England and France in conse- 
quence of their hostile edicts. The latter nation re- 
voked her decrees; but as England maintained her 
position, war was declared against us by America in 
1812, while we were fully occupied by our European 
contest. Hostilities were carried on by sea and land 
during two years and a half with various success. 
Michigan was taken by the British, and retaken by the 
Americans. Canada was invaded by the Americans, 
who, after burning York (now Toronto) and other 
places, were driven from the province. On the other 
hand, the British attacked the city of Washington, 
drove away the President and other officers of govern- 
ment, and burnt the Capitol, the President's house, and 



igo The Political Uni 



ton. 



all the public buildings, except the Post-office. At sea 
the Americans had considerable success, and during 
the early part of the war their privateers, built for rapid 
sailing, captured some hundreds of British merchant- 
ships. In an engagement on Lake Erie, the British 
squadron surrendered, and a similar reverse was after- 
wards experienced on Lake Champlain. After the 
downfall of Napoleon our government was able to send 
additional ships and troops to America. The coast of 
Maine afforded an easy conquest, and various islands 
on the New England coast submitted to our naval com- 
manders. The people of New England had been con- 
stantly opposed to the war, by which their commerce 
lost far more than their manufactures gained. In 
December, 1814, a convention of the delegates assem- 
bled at Hartford, in Connecticut, and took the subject 
of their grievances into consideration. But further 
proceedings were rendered unnecessary by the conclu- 
sion of peace, the treaty being signed at Grhent on the 
24th of the month just named. On the 8th of January, 
1815, fifteen days after the signature of the treaty, the 
battle of New Orleans took place, in which the Ameri- 
cans, under Greneral Jackson, gained the victory. Had 
the present system of steamers and telegraphs then 
existed, the speedy arrival of the intelligence of peace 
would probably have prevented the conflict, and the 
loss of nearly two thousand lives. 

A short war with Algiers, and the institution of a 
United States bank, with a charter for twenty years, 
were among the last events of Mr. Madison's Presi- 



Threats of South Carolina. 191 

dency. Under Mr. Adams, the second President of 
the name, the Creek and Kansas Indians ceded their 
lands in Georgia and Missouri, and in 1828 a bill 
passed Congress for the protection of American manu- 
factures, by. charging a duty on the importation of such 
articles as could be made at home. The tariff was 
agreed to by a small majority, the Southern States 
(which had no manufactures) considering it detrimental 
to their interests. In 1826 a remarkable coincidence 
occurred in the death on the same day, and that day the 
fourth of July, of the two Ex-Presidents, Jefferson and 
Adams. 

During the Presidency of Jackson, the Bank of the 
United States was obliged to close its operations, the 
President refusing to sanction a renewal of the charter. 
In 1832 the State of South Carolina determined to 
resist the tariff, and threatened to dissolve the Union in 
the event of its being enforced. The President, on the 
other hand, took prompt and decisive measures to col- 
lect the revenue and prevent rebellion, and Congress 
overcame opposition to the tariff by a bill providing for 
a gradual reduction of the obnoxious duties. In 1835 
difficulties arose with France, but through the media- 
tion of England a war was averted. Hostilities were, 
however, commenced against the Seminole Indians in 
Florida, who had harboured fugitive slaves, and had 
been accused of other acts of depredation on the pro- 
perty of the white inhabitants. The war continued 
during seven years, and cost above forty millions of 
dollars. Many of the enemy were killed or captured, 



1 93 The Political Union. 

and the remainder were, for the most part, transported 
to the western territories. 

Some of the principal events subsequent to Jackson's 
Presidency have been already mentioned, such as the 
acquisition of Texas and the war with Mexico, fol- 
lowed by a great increase of the slaveholding power. 
The South appears to have generally governed the 
country, and the principal statesmen were for the most 
part advocates of Southern interests. Of the first five 
Presidents, all were Virginians, with the exception of 
John Adams. But the Northern and North- Western 
States were now preponderating in wealth, population, 
and intelligence, and it was evident that the time was 
approaching when the free States would obtain a de- 
cisive and permanent superiority. 

The American Union was a grand idea, but the prac- 
tical working of it belongs to a class of experiments 
which sometimes require ages for their completion. It 
had, undoubtedly, one great disadvantage in its very 
commencement. The divisions of the people, growing out 
of the circumstances of their early settlement, and the 
neglect and misfortunes of the mother-country, pre- 
vented any national recognition of a definite Chris- 
tianity. Something was done, indeed, for which we 
have reason to be thankful. National fasts and thanks- 
givings were appointed by the Federal and State au- 
thorities, the Christian era was acknowledged, Sunday 
was observed as a day of rest, and chaplains of various 
" denominations " were appointed for the army and 
navy, and for Congress itself. The Presidents also, in 



Defective Education, ig% 

their Messages, usual ly made some proper allusion to 
Divine Providence. But the general education of the 
American people has suffered greatly from these unhappy 
divisions, and more of late than formerly. Eepublican 
institutions, depending as they do upon the will of the 
majority, require the support of a virtuous and intel- 
ligent community. A solid Christian education is the 
only source of public virtue on which men ca,n safely 
rely. The great Washington said in his farewell ad- 
dress on retiring from the Presidency, "Let us with 
caution indulge the supposition that morality can be 
maintained without religion. Whatever may be con- 
ceded to the influence of refined education on minds of 
peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us 
to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion 
of religious principles." But it is impossible that reli- 
gious principles of any practical value can be inculcated 
in the absence of a definite form of religion, or 
where different systems are assumed to be equally 
true or equally false. Now, although the free States 
have generally made ample provision for schools of 
secular learning, any particular system of religious 
teaching would be regarded as sectarian, and would 
not be tolerated. The mention of judgment to come 
would offend the believers in universal salvation, the 
doctrine of a personal God would irritate the Pantheists, 
and allusions to infant baptism, or forms of prayer, would 
exasperate the Baptists and Independents. Nothing fa- 
vourable to either Sacrament could safely be inculcated 
in the neighbourhood of Quakers ; the English version 

o 



194 The Political Union. 

of the Bible would not be tolerated by Eoman Catholics, 
and Scriptures of any version would hurt the feelings 
of those who deny all revelation whatever, and whose 
" conscience," like that of others, must be respected 
in a land where all are equal. Hence the public 
schools have been compelled to exclude not only all 
catechisms, creeds, and explanations of revealed truth, 
but eventually even the Bible itself. Thus we find a 
state of things existing in the midst of Protestantism 
not unlike that which is laid to the charge of the most 
bigoted Popery. Denominational Sunday-schools can- 
not effectively counteract the godless teaching of the 
rest of the week, and the bulk of the population con- 
sequently grows up, if not in absolute unbelief, at least 
without the blessing of a true, definite, and hereditary 
religion. The tone of public conscience necessarily 
becomes relaxed, and the respect to law proportionately 
weakened. The solemn oath in courts of justice loses 
its awful sanctions, and responsibility to Grod is for- 
gotten. " This divorce of religion from education," says 
a New York paper*, "was unknown to our fathers." 
It is to be feared there is too much truth in the 
words of Bishop Otey, of Tennessee f : "Ina vast ma- 
jority of instances, the young who are just rising into 
manhood are totally ignorant of the nature and extent 
of their obligations as moral and accountable beings. 
They can give shrewd and intelligent answers to all 
questions concerning traffic and trade and the value of 

* Church Journal. 

f Primary Charge to the Clergy of the Diocese of Tennessee. 



Decay of Authority. 195 

various kinds of property ; but as to the nature and 
extent of those obligations by which man is bound to 
c do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with Grod,' 
they have been taught nothing, they know nothing, and 
oftentimes care nothing. The example of their parents 
has led them to regard money as ( the chief good,' and 
in its acquisition all advantages are to be taken which 
the law will allow, or which artful evasions of the law 
will enable them to compass. The social affections 
are swept away in this struggle for gain, there is no 
place for their exercise, and the kindly offices of charity 
and benevolence are unknown. The children of the 
country are thus in a measure trained up with feelings 
almost hostile to their species. The idea they have of 
public liberty is that they may do as they please, 
regardless of the comfort and even the rights of others. 
Reverence for age and character is unfelt, sympathy for 
suffering and distress is destroyed, and respect for law 
and authority despised as meanness. Effrontery is taken 
for manliness, rudeness for gentility, and impudence for 
easiness of manners. Is it any wonder that, under this 
hardening process, future heroes in crime are formed, 
and that we hear and read of deeds of daring villany 
and desperate wickedness ? " 

Another source of danger arose from the decay of 
authority consequent on the Revolution. The very 
principle of obedience seemed to have been subverted, 
and while men believed themselves to be simply getting 
rid of King Greorge, they were, in fact, overthrowing 
the power which should of right belong to every magis- 

o 2 



196 The Political Union. 

trate, parent, pastor, master, teacher, and officer. Bishop 
Potter, of Pennsylvania, in his charge of 1849, says: 
" May we not tremble for the future of our land, when 
we see how the bands of parental authority and do- 
mestic affection are relaxed, and how much insolent 
contempt is expressed for the wisdom of the past?" 
Bishop Hopkins, of Vermont, said in 1854, though 
admitting that the picture might be overdrawn * : " It is 
well known that the wives of our age have no notion of 
submitting to their husbands, and that sons and daughters 
are accustomed to throw off the yoke of their parents, 
and to do precisely as they please, while the reverence 
for magistrates, ministers, and teachers, which marked 
the early days of the Eepublic, is generally exploded 
as obsolete. Democracy has extended from the public 
rights of the citizen to the private relations of the 
family and the school. The sacred authority of the 
master and the father is merged in deference to the 
will of the majority at home. And the political privi- 
leges which the constitution intended to be exercised by 
intelligent and virtuous men, are practically assumed 
in every other department by fools and children." In 
fact, rebellion came to be regarded as something good 
in itself, and the doctrine of the sovereignty of the 
people laid the foundation of a new form of tyranny, 
and tended " to annul the greatest step in the progress 
of humanity, by placing will, though it be the will of 



* Address delivered before the Convocation of Trinity College, Hart- 
ford, Connecticut. 



r'HiigrituioH. 197 



the many, above reason and the law." * The people 
virtually made and unmade laws at their pleasure, until 
they ceased to respect them ; and, in some States, even 
the judges were elected for short periods by the votes 
of a majority. It is not, therefore, marvellous that the 
sovereign mob should sometimes take the law into their 
own hands, and, without the formalities of a regular 
trial, should perpetrate the barbarous acts known as 
"Lynch-law," acts unknown even in the most recently 
settled communities of British America. Under the 
operation of universal suffrage, " the direct and imme- 
diate agency of the whole people in the conduct and 
administration of the government became," in the words 
of an American writer, " a preponderating and crushing 
element in the system, the operation of which reduces 
to nothing all the well-adjusted theoretical distinctions 
between the departments of the Federal government, 
by the ease with which it overbalances them all." f 

To this we must add another danger arising from the 
great and increasing emigration from Germany, Ireland, 
England, and other European countries, amounting some- 
times to nearly half a million in a year. Along with some 
honest and well-meaning persons, there has been a con- 
stant influx of the depraved and lawless, who, casting off 
all the restraints of home, are soon admitted to the suf- 
frage in America, and courted and flattered, for the sake 
of their votes, by the aspirants to political power. 

It is quite certain that universal suffrage, however it 

* Smith.' s "Lecture before the University of Oxford," p. 19. 
t Church Eeyievr, 1859, p. 535. 
O 3 



198 The Political Union. 

may work in a population of agricultural proprietors, is 
practically an enormous evil in cities such as New York. 
Americans tell * us that in this great metropolis, cab- 
men, butchers, policemen, and men without property, 
morals, or education, the very dregs of the populace, elect 
persons of their own party to offices of power and trust, 
and divide among them immense sums of money levied 
on the wealthy. Throughout the country generally, we 
are informed on similar authority f that "the possession 
of great talents, dignified habits, and polished manners, 
renders a man an object of suspicion, as an aristocrat, to 
the great bulk of the electors. Such men, accordingly, 
are often prevented from serving their country, and 
spend their lives in comparative retirement." " Bribery," 
says Bishop Hopkins, " is practised in all our elections, 
and the spoils of office are expected as a matter of 
course by the victorious party." 

This division of the spoils, which began long since the 
days of Washington, takes place at every presidential 
election. The effect of this election is to convulse the 
whole country once in four years, to expend a vast 
amount of time, money, and exertion to very little 
purpose, and to encourage the formation of factions, 
which, although generally devoid of any important 
meaning, pursue one another with a violence and a 
malignity inconceivable to a foreigner. 

It is taken for granted that the new President will 
eject multitudes of persons from office, and supply 

* Western World Eevisited, p. 49. f Ibid. p. 250. 



Popular Oratory. igg 

their vacant places with those who have promoted his 
own advancement. il There are, for example, nearly 
twenty thousand postmasters in the United States, 
of whom all receiving a salary of a thousand dollars 
per annum are appointed by the President, and the 
remainder by his nominee, the Postmaster-Greneral. 
These persons are removed from their situations on 
the accession of a new party, and make way for 
an army of new and probably inexperienced post- 
masters, to the manifest detriment of the public 
service." * Although, under this system, party leaders 
are of course idolised by their followers, compa- 
ratively few great statesmen are produced, and the 
fathers of the Eevolution, trained in the old colonial 
period, have never been surpassed. The mass of the 
people necessarily become partisans, and the American 
character and manners receive injury from the undue 
predominance assigned to a kind of politics by no means 
elevated in its aims or ennobling in its tendency. 

Many evil effects have also arisen from the peculiar 
kind of oratory which has generally found favour with 
the people. On the 4th of July, for instance, the 
anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, custom 
requires an oration in every town, village, and neigh- 
bourhood throughout the United States. In these ora- 
tions, the Declaration is read, the causes which led to the 
Eevolution are recounted, the events of the old quarrel 
are raked up, and the whole blame of the contest is laid 

* Western World Kerisited, p. 266. 
O 4 



20o The Political Union. 

upon despotic and tyrannical England. The orator, 
perhaps, takes occasion to assert that England, although 
smaller in extent than Virginia, envies bitterly the pros- 
perity of the United States, and constantly endeavours to 
arrest their progress, slander their statesmen, and misre- 
present their institutions. Kings, princes, nobles, and 
priests are held up to public execration. The history of 
the times is told in a manner adapted to flatter the self- 
love of the audience, and the people are encouraged to 
regard themselves as the most free, the most brave, the 
most wise, the most religious, and the most intelligent 
of mankind. " We may well mourn," says Bishop 
Potter, of Pennsylvania, "that there is sometimes 
among us so much impatience of the restraints of law, 
and always such overweening national self-esteem, 
combined with a tone of detraction so ungenerous and 
undistinguishing in respect to the institutions and 
condition of other lands." * 

As a general rule, the press only too faithfully fol- 
lows the tone of the popular oratory. The Bishop of 
Tennessee said in his charge in 1837 : " The press, 
generally under the influence of party organisation and 
subservient to party purpose, has become the chief in- 
strument in promoting licentiousness." " The news- 
papers of the day disgorge upon society crimination 
and vituperation in every quarter of the country." Dr. 
Cleveland Coxe, of Baltimore, writing in 1860, tells us f 
that the American press " suggests cause for anxiety 

* Charge, 1849. 

f The Church and the Press, p. 7. 



The J^ress. 201 



and alarm. It already battens upon popular vice and 
passion. It is made a tremendous agent of corruption. 
By night and day, by the untiring energy of steam, and 
as it were with the very flame of Tophet, it sends forth 
elements of pollution, the most corrosive." Bishop Hop- 
kins says : •' The press has its full share in the general 
deterioration. Party-spirit there finds its convenient 
organ to scatter poison throughout the land. There is the 
ready instrument to manufacture a spurious reputation 
for one candidate, or to vilify the worthy fame of another. 
There is the beguiling sophistry which lifts the free- 
booter to the rank of a revolutionary hero. There is the 
daily trumpeter of every nauseous deed of individual 
villainy. There is the retailer of every jest which may 
provoke a laugh at the expense of religion. There is the 
willing adjunct of infidelity, profanity, rebellion, false 
morality, and every form of assault, direct and indirect, 
upon the principles of law and order." 

To the above-mentioned dangerous influences must 
be added the great evil of slavery. Having been intro- 
duced early in the colonial period, slavery had become 
so deeply rooted in the habits of the Southern States, 
that, although Washington and others looked forward to 
its eventual abolition, it was considered impossible to 
eradicate it at the Eevolution, and an express provision 
for its protection was introduced into the Constitution. 
Indeed, had any measure hostile to it been entertained 
by the Eevolutionary Congress, the union of the States 
against England would have been out of the question. 
We have seen the rapid spread of this institution over 



20% The Political Union. 

the new South- Western States, and the energy with 
which its promoters favoured every scheme which 
tended to its diffusion. Slavery could not exist together 
with general intelligence, and while, in the North, 
secular education flourished, the South regarded the 
ignorance of the labourer as necessary to the perma- 
nence of society. As England originally introduced 
slavery, so England has shared largely in the main- 
tenance of it to the present day. But for the invention 
of the cotton-gin, it is possible that at this time there 
might not be a slave in America. The demands of 
modern commerce are imperative ; our manufactories 
must be supplied with the raw material ; and nearly 
two-thirds of the American cotton are received by 
England. The Southern "Institution" has thus become 
an important part of the great system which has its 
centre in Manchester. 

Already it had been predicted that the combined 
effects of slavery and of opposite commercial interests 
would ultimately break up the Union. The anticipa- 
tions of such a calamity might be quoted to any extent. 
De Tocqueville, in his profound work on American 
democracy, said, " If ever America undergoes great 
revolutions, they will be brought about by the presence 
of the black race on the soil of the United States ; that 
is to say, they will owe their origin, not to the equality, 
but to the inequality of conditions."* An article 
published twenty years ago in a Presbyterian Eeview 
contains the following remarkable language : — " The 

* American translation, 1840, p. 278. 



Slavery, 203 



opinion that slaveholding is itself a crime must operate 
to produce the disunion of the States, and the division 
of all ecclesiastical societies in this country. Just so far 
as this opinion operates, it will lead those who enter- 
tain it to submit to any sacrifices to carry it out and 
give it effect. We shall become two nations in feeling, 
which must soon render us two nations in fact." 
Five years earlier, Mr. Robert Wickliffe, a Kentuckian, 
in an oration before the University of the State, said : 
— " That there is danger to this Union, and that 
there are men who seek its ruin and would rejoice in 
its downfall, are facts too true and too alarming not to 
be perceived. But how long will such men continue to 
distract their unhappy country? How long will they 
continue to make the downfall of the Union the only 
means of their own elevation ? Is there nothing noble, 
nothing useful, in this Union, that men will thus labour 
to bring about its destruction ? Let the North cease to 
meddle with the domestic concerns of the South ; let 
the South bear a more tolerant and benignant spirit 
towards the North, and all will be well." 

Notwithstanding, however, the dangers which beset the 
Eepublic in the want of definite religion, the decay of 
authority, the growth of political corruption, the licen- 
tiousness of speech and of the press, and the existence 
of slavery, the progress of events was in other points of 
view decidedly hopeful and encouraging. So many 
were the sources of wealth and the elements of 
material prosperity, that the political constitution 
must have been bad indeed which could have greatly 



.20 4 The Political Union. 

interfered with their development. Besides, whatever 
evil effects an overpowering democracy may have ex- 
erted on some departments of the General Government, 
a check more or less effectual was found in the State 
legislatures, which, since the year 1800, had been con- 
stantly rising in comparative importance. " The limi- 
tation of the granted powers of Congress, the reservation 
of the rights of the several States, and the organisation 
of the Senate as their representative, give to the smallest 
States equal weight with the largest in one branch of 
the national legislature, and impose a very effectual 
check on the power of a numerical majority." * Thus 
a number of smaller democracies, each having its re- 
served rights, were supposed to be a balance against 
the single great democracy, which otherwise might 
have tyrannised over the continent. In some of these 
commonwealths the respect paid to religion and law 
has always been much greater than in others, and 
a higher tone of morals and manners is a necessary 
result. In America generally " the last thirty years 
stand pre-eminent for immense improvements in the 
arts. The earth is traversed with a speed which exceeds 
the most extravagant anticipation. Intelligence is trans- 
mitted on the wings of electricity, and men converse 
together with ease across the continent. The number 
of travellers is multiplied more than a thousandfold. 
Inventions have sprung up in every other department, 
as if some new and unaccountable energy was urging 

* Everett's Oration, 1860. 



Everett's Oration. 205 

the human mind to its ultimate earthly developments. 
Nothing is too vast to be undertaken, nothing too 
strange to be believed." * To the same purpose Mr. 
Everett, late American Minister in England, speaks 
in an oration delivered at Boston on the 4th of 
July, 1860: — "Merely to fill up the wilderness 
with a population provided with the ordinary in- 
stitutions and carrying on the customary pursuits 
of civilised life, though surely no mean achieve- 
ment, was not the whole of the work allotted to the 
United States. The mechanical arts have not only been 
cultivated, but they have been cultivated with unusual 
aptitude. Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, navi- 
gation, whether by sails or steam, and the art of printing 
in all its forms and in all its applications, have been 
pursued with surprising skill. I believe that in the 
cities of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, more 
money, in proportion to the populations, is raised by 
taxation for the support of common schools than in any 
other cities in the world. There are more seminaries 
in the United States where a decent academical edu- 
cation can be obtained, — more, I still mean, in propor- 
tion to the population, — than in any other country except 
Germany. The fine arts have reached a high degree 
of excellence. The taste for music is rapidly spreading 
in town and country; and every year witnesses pro- 
ductions from the pencil and chisel of American sculp- 
tors and painters which would adorn any gallery in the 
world. Our astronomers, mathematicians, naturalists, 

* Address before Trinity College, 1854, 



.20 6 The Political Union. 

chemists, engineers, jurists, publicists, historians, poets, 
novelists, and lexicographers, have placed themselves on 
a level with their contemporaries abroad. In no part 
of Christendom is religion more generously supported, 
while the American missionary operations have won 
the admiration of the civilised world. Our charitable 
asylums, houses of industry, institutions for the edu- 
cation of deaf mutes and the blind, for the care of the 
pauper and the discipline and reformation of the cri- 
minal, are nowhere surpassed. In a word, there is no 
branch of the mechanical or fine arts, no department of 
science, no form of polite literature, no description of 
social improvement, in which, due allowance being 
made for the means and resources at command, the 
progress of the United States has not been satisfactory, 
and in some respects astonishing." 

But while men were thus congratulating themselves on 
the improvement of the country, and while the Census 
of 1860 was proclaiming the advance of the population 
to nearly thirty-two millions, a worm was at the root of 
the luxuriant and widely spreading "gourd" of the 
American Union. Dissension between North and South 
approached a point at which all reasonable hope of 
adjustment would cease. With the view of carrying 
into effect the provisions of the Constitution, Congress 
had enacted a " Fugitive Slave Law," making it the duty 
of the officers of the several States to seize fugitive 
slaves and return them to their owners. The Northern 
States, considering this law an encroachment on their 
rights, had passed " Personal Liberty Laws," denying the 



Growing Dissension. 20 / 

assistance of these officers. The celebrated "Dred 
Scott" * decision, pronounced by the Chief Justice of the 
United States, had shown that a negro descended from 
slave ancestors could not become entitled to the rights 
of a citizen of the United States, even in the Western 
country north of the parallel of 36° 30' ; and that slaves 
were not made free by their owners taking them to re- 
side permanently in free States. By the "Nebraska 
Bill," overthrowing the Missouri Compromise, the people 
of the Territories had acquired a right derisively called 
" Squatter Sovereignty." Being left to decide the 
question of slavery for themselves, emigrants from the 
North and South had hastened to settle the point, and 
Kansas in particular had become the scene of fearful 
violence, and even bloodshed. On the one hand, without 
any particular love for the negro, who was still viewed 
with a feeling akin to disgust, many in the North, in 
speaking or writing of the South, revived the bitter and 
denunciatory temper and language of the Puritans. 
Philanthropy towards the slave was less evident in 
this party than misanthropy towards the slave-owner. 
The abolitionists, to use the words of the well-known 

* Dred Scott, a negro slave, had been taken by bis master to a place 
■west of the Mississippi, and north of latitude 36° 30', and conse- 
quently on free soil. Here he married and had two daughters, one born 
north and one south of that line. By the Missouri Compromise, slavery- 
was prohibited on the north of 36° 30'. Dred Scott was however taken 
by his master into the slave State of Missouri, and there sold with his 
family. Having brought an action before the Circuit Court of the 
United States to recover his freedom, he was defeated on two grounds : 
first, that he had no right to sue, not being a citizen ; secondly, that 
the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional, and therefore void. 



2o8 The Political Union. 

Dr. Chaining, "fell into the common error of enthu- 
siasts, that of exaggerating their object, of feeling 
as if no evil existed but that which they opposed, 
and as if no guilt could be compared with that of coun- 
tenancing and upholding it. The tone of their news- 
papers has often been fierce, bitter, and abusive. They 
have sent forth their orators, some of them transported 
with fiery zeal, to sound the alarm against slavery 
through the land, to gather together young and old, 
pupils from schools, females hardly arrived at the years 
of discretion, the ignorant, the excitable, the impetuous, 
and to organise these into associations for the battle 
against oppression. Very unhappily, they preached 
their doctrine to the coloured people, and collected 
them into societies. To this mixed and excitable multi- 
tude, minute, heart-rending descriptions of slavery were 
given in piercing tones of passion; and slaveholders 
were held up as monsters of cruelty and crime. The 
abolitionist, indeed, proposed to convert slaveholders ; 
and for this end he approached them with vituperation, 
and exhausted on them the vocabulary of abuse." 
Some were not content with hard words, but proceeded 
to action. Inflamed by private wrongs endured in 
Kansas, as well as by the furious speeches of ultra- 
abolitionists, John Brown and a party of mistaken men 
invaded Virginia in 1859, with the expectation of ex- 
citing the negroes to insurrection. The objects of their 
s}mipathy gave them no encouragement; they were 
captured after causing some bloodshed and much alarm, 
and Brown, with the other leaders of the party, perished 



Exaggerated Statements. 2,09 

on the gallows. This line of conduct on the part of in- 
dividuals was preceded and followed by action on the part 
of States. " Legislative bodies enacted and re-enacted 
statutes which declared that if a Southern man, under 
the shield of the Constitution, and with the decision of the 
Supreme Court of the country in his hand, should come 
within their jurisdiction, and set up a claim to a fugi- 
tive slave, he should be punished with a fine of two 
thousand dollars and fifteen years' imprisonment."* On 
the other hand, there were many in the South who now 
put forth the most exaggerated statements on the other 
side of the question. Formerly slavery was generally 
admitted to be an evil, — necessary, indeed, but yet an 
evil. It was now declared to be the corner-stone of the 
American Constitution, a civilising moral institution, 
necessary to the welfare of the negro, and deserving of 
being preached and propagated like Christianity itself. 
Governor Wise, of Virginia, breathed forth rage and 
defiance against the North, and indeed against all men 
who presumed to question the absolute perfection of 
the system of slavery. " To suppress slavery," exclaimed 
an orator at Charleston, " would be to make American 
civilisation retrograde two centuries." f A rigorous 
censorship now stopped at the frontier of the South the 
books and newspapers of the North, and persons sus- 
pected of holding anti-slavery principles were expelled, 
sometimes with violence, from Southern territory. 

* Sermon preached at Brooklyn in 1860 by H. Van Dyke. 
t Clarigny on the Election of Mr. Lincoln, translated by Sir 
Willoughby Jones. 

P 



3IO The Political Union. 

Tyranny over white men was clearly involved in 
the slavery of the black. But abolitionism was now 
embraced by a sufficient number to hold the balance of 
power between contending parties in many districts and 
States. Aspirants for the Presidency seized upon it as a 
weapon for gratifying their ambition or avenging their 
disappointments. In the halls of Congress were heard the 
outpourings both of Northern and Southern violence.* 
The House of Representatives, and even the Senate 
Chamber, were more than ever disgraced by fierce 
passion and violent denunciation. 

The Presidential election of 1861 approached, and it 
was evident that the tide which had long flowed to- 
wards the South was setting in the opposite direction. 
Douglas was the favourite candidate of the "Democrats" 
and slave-owners, while Abraham Lincoln, a man of 
humble origin and imperfect education, was selected as 
candidate by a Northern Convention of " Republicans " 
held at Chicago. The Constitution had designed that the 
difficult and dangerous business of the Presidential elec- 
tion should be conducted by Electoral Colleges, chosen in 
each State, and composed of men selected from the body 
of the people on account of their experience, judgment, 
and integrity. Under the actual working system, these 
Colleges have never been anything but cumbrous and 
superfluous instruments for signifying to the Central 
Government the choice of the President already made 
by the people in their primary assemblies.f Accordingly, 

* Clarigny. f Church Eeview, 1859, p. 536. 



Election of Lincoln. 2 1 x 

although the existing President did not vacate his office 
until the 4th of March, 1861, and the choice of his 
successor was not announced by the electoral body until 
the 13th of February (Ash- Wednesday), it was known 
early in December, 1860, that Abraham Lincoln was 
the chosen President of the United States. 

This event was followed by immediate action on the 
part of the Southern States. Preparations had already 
been made for a movement, in which hatred for aboli- 
tionism and contempt for the negro bore leading parts, 
though commercial considerations were not without 
their influence. South Carolina, through a Convention 
promptly summoned, put forth a declaration of inde- 
pendence, which appeared like a parody of the original 
of 1776. In this document, after recounting the wrongs 
inflicted upon the South in regard to slave property, 
and the insults heaped upon it by the North, the 
members of the Convention pronounced the severance 
of their connection with the Union, and in defence 
of their new position pledged, according to the old 
formula, "their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred 
honour." The great independence of the several com- 
monwealths rendered secession a very simple process, 
and in the course of the winter six other States fol- 
lowed the example of South Carolina. They soon 
arranged the basis of a new confederacy, designed to 
be, in some respects, an improvement upon the older 
one. There were no abolitionists to disturb their 
harmony, and they proceeded with remarkable cool- 
ness and sagacity to prepare their new constitution, 

P 2 



2,12, The Political Union. 

and to lay down the general principles of their policy. 
Already the Northern States had become alarmed at 
the progress of events, and had repealed many of their 
" personal liberty " laws, considering that the question 
of slavery was of little moment compared with the pre- 
servation of the Union. At the same time there was a 
strong disposition to coerce the rebels ; but a difficulty 
presented itself at the very outset. From the dread of 
executive power, the President's authority had been 
made too weak for decisive action, while to Mr. Lincoln's, 
predecessor it appeared that by the Constitution no 
means existed of preventing the rebellion of entire 
States, or of obliging those which had seceded to return 
to the Union. The interregnum always taking place 
between the virtual election of a new President and his 
inauguration enabled the seceders to prosecute their de- 
signs without interference on the part of the government 
at Washington. Mr. Lincoln, on his accession to power, 
found a rival President in Mr. Jefferson Davis, elected 
for six years, a Southern army already organised and 
nearly equal to his own, and a new confederacy sur- 
rounded with the ordinary attributes of government 
and emblems of nationality. 

Thus, on account of wrongs in which the civilised 
world could feel but little sympathy, the adventurous 
and spirited South commenced a new political existence. 
Thus, after a duration of eighty-four years, the lapse of 
but one long life, the Union so thoughtfully adjusted by 
the veterans of the Eevolution seemed to meet its 
long-predicted and perhaps inevitable dissolution. 



Dr. Coke. % 1 3 



CHAP. IX. 

CHURCH EXTENSION. 

DR. COKE'S APPLICATION FOR THE REUNION OF THE METHODISTS. 

PROPOSAL OF THE BISHOPS. A MISSIONARY BISHOP DESIRED. 

BISHOP CHASE. — A MISSIONARY SOCIETY FOUNDED. — PROGRESS OF THE 
OLDER DIOCESES, AND OF THE CHURCH AT LARGE. — ESTIMATE OF THE 
EXPENSES OF DIVINE WORSHIP, ETC. — ENGLISH EMIGRATION. — GENERAL 
CONVENTION AT RICHMOND IN 1859. — SERMON BY DR. VINTON. 




HILE the American Union was thus ad- 
vancing on its eventful career, the Church 
rose from its ashes and attained a degree 
of influence and prosperity which ap- 
peared fully to justify the course adopted 
by Bishop White and the General Convention of 1789. 
It had a Liturgy, so revised that many dissenting objec- 
tions had lost their point. Its constitution had been 
arranged in harmony with that of the Kepublic, and, 
above all, it had its long-desired bishops, who, with 
their limited authority, could not be suspected of designs 
against the liberties of the people. 

One of the first important events after the comple- 
tion of this organisation was an application for reunion 
on the part of Dr. Coke, one of the superintendents or 
bishops appointed by John Wesley. In a letter to 

P 3 



214 Church ILxtension. 

Bishop White*, dated at Eichmond, Virginia, April 
24th, 1791, Dr. Coke wrote: "I am not sure but I 
went farther in the separation of our Church in Ame- 
rica than Mr. Wesley, from whom I had received my 
commission, did intend. He did indeed solemnly 
invest me, as far as he had a right so to do, with epis- 
copal authority, but did not intend, I think, that an 
entire separation should take place. He, being pressed 
by our friends on this side of the water for ministers 
to administer the sacraments to them (there being very 
few clergy of the Church of England then in the States), 
went farther, I am sure, than he would have gone if he 
had foreseen some events which followed. And this I 
am certain of, that he is now sorry for the separation. 
But what can be done for a reunion, which I much 
wish for, and to accomplish which Mr. Wesley, I have 
no doubt, would use his influence to the utmost ? " The 
writer then proposed that all the Methodist ministers 
should receive Episcopal ordination, continuing, how- 
ever, under the government of Wesley's superintendents 
and their successors. He foresaw difficulties on account 
of the ignorance of the learned languages on the part 
of the Methodists, as well as from the expected oppo- 
sition of his colleague, Mr. Asbury. Still he hoped 
that Bishop White would consider the subject, and pro- 
posed an interview with him. He afterwards wrote in 
a similar strain to Bishop Seabury. 

Bishop White, in reply, expressed his readiness to 

* Bishop White's Memoirs, p. 425. 



Proposal for Union, 21$ 

converse with Dr. Coke, and said that it was " rather to 
be expected that those who agreed in fundamentals 
should make mutual sacrifices for a union, than that 
any Church should divide into two bodies, without a 
difference being alleged to exist in any leading point. 
For the preventing of this," he added, " the measures 
you may propose cannot fail of success, unless there be 
on one side, or on both, a most lamentable deficiency of 
Christian temper." Dr. Coke received the news of 
Wesley's death in the short interval between the dates 
of the two letters, and immediately left his residence at 
Baltimore, on his way to England. As it was necessary 
for him to go through Philadelphia, he visited Bishop 
White, and had several interviews with him. Nothing 
passed that gave any ground of expectation of a re- 
union on the principle of consolidation, or on any other 
principle than that of the Methodists continuing a dis- 
tinct and self-governed body. On the one hand, Coke 
proposed that Asbury and himself should be consecrated 
as bishops, and that the Church should allow the 
Methodist preachers to minister to her congregations. 
On the other hand, it was by no means clear that the 
clergy would have a corresponding access to the con- 
gregations of the Methodists. In consequence, how- 
ever, of what took place, Bishop Madison, in the 
General Convention of 1792, obtained the consent of 
the other bishops to the following proposal : (S The 
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of 
America, ever bearing in mind the sacred obligation 
which attends all the followers of Christ to avoid 

p 4 



3i6 Church 'Extension. 

divisions among themselves, and anxious to promote 
that union for which our Lord and Saviour so earnestly 
prayed, do hereby declare to the Christian world that, 
uninfluenced by any other considerations than those of 
duty as Christians, and an earnest desire for the pro- 
sperity of pure Christianity and the furtherance of our 
holy religion, they are ready and willing to unite and 
form one body with any religious society which shalf 
be influenced by the same catholic spirit. And, in 
order that this Christian end may be the more easily 
effected, they further declare that all things in which 
the great essentials of Christianity or the characteristic 
principles of their Church are not concerned, they are 
willing to leave to future discussion; being ready to 
alter or modify those points which, in the opinion of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church, are subject to human 
alteration. And it is hereby recommended to the State 
Conventions to adopt such measures or propose such 
conferences with Christians of other denominations as 
to themselves may be thought most prudent, and report 
accordingly to the ensuing General Convention." 

The public mind was in no respect prepared for this 
well-intended scheme. The desolating effects of dis- 
union were not yet sufficiently understood by the secta- 
rian bodies, and in the Lower House of the Convention 
the proposal of the Bishops was considered as tending to 
produce distrust of the Church system without the least 
prospect of embracing any other religious body. Ac- 
cordingly the document was withdrawn, and this measure 
in favour of Christian union came to nothing. 



The West. 217 



Early in the present century the greater part of the 
clergy ordained in the colonial period had passed away, 
and their places had been supplied by men trained up 
under the new circumstances of the country. The infi- 
delity which had been fashionable in the last generation 
was passing away like the shadow of a dark cloud, and 
persons of powerful intellect and strong religious cha- 
racter came over from the sectarian ranks, and were 
added to the ministry of the Church, and even to its 
episcopate. In 1811 there were eight bishops and two 
hundred and thirty-two clergymen ; and about the same 
time Dr. Bowden, of New York, was calling attention 
by his writings to the historical arguments in favour of 
episcopacy. 

The vast regions beyond the Alleghany mountains 
were now rapidly increasing in population. Dis- 
senters of every variety had pre-occupied the ground, 
and only two or three clergymen were to be found in 
the whole of Western America. The appointment of 
a missionary bishop was strongly urged by one of these 
gentlemen, the Eev. Joseph Doddridge, a relation of 
the eminent nonconformist of the same name. But the 
weakness of the Church prevented immediate action on 
this important point, and a great opportunity was lost. 

The condition of the diocese of Virginia was as 
discouraging as can well be conceived. Bishop Madison, 
though a good scholar, was far from active, and " had 
a low estimate of the spiritual power inherent in the 
office which he held."* His Diocesan Convention at 



Bishop of Oxford. 



% 1 8 Church 'Extension. 

length ceased to assemble, and the country abounded 
with the mouldering ruins of the houses of God. But 
the Bishop died in 1812, and the first sign of life 
within the diocese was the meeting of a Convention to 
elect his successor. In a State which formerly had 
more than a hundred clergy of its own, thirteen clergy- 
men and twelve laymen were all that could be assembled. 
Failing in their first attempt at an election, they met 
again in even smaller numbers in 1814; but on this 
occasion they selected as their bishop an earnest-minded 
and holy man, Dr. Kichard Moore, of New York. After 
receiving consecration at Philadelphia, Bishop Moore 
entered on his work with vigour, and in a very short 
time the Church began to revive. Ten new churches 
were soon building by voluntary contributions, and 
eight of those in ruins were reported as being under 
repair. An Episcopal fund was commenced in order 
that the bishop's attention might not be detained from 
his higher duties by the charge of a parish. Although 
the clergy were poor, their ranks were being recruited 
from the best and oldest families in Virginia. 

After the resignation of Bishop Provoost, in 1800, 
Dr. Benjamin Moore was consecrated for New York, 
and during the ten years of his episcopate there was a 
gradual improvement in the state of the diocese. His 
successor, Bishop Hobart, was a man of remarkable 
vigour and determination of character, and at his death, 
in 1830, the diocese was rapidly increasing in numbers 
and in hearty appreciation of Church principles. Through 
his exertions, the General Theological Seminary of the 






Theological Seminary. 2,19 

Church was established at New York, under the control 
of trustees appointed in the several dioceses. A fund 
also was commenced for the education of young men of 
piety desirous of entering into holy orders. From the 
time when the Church thus took into her own hands 
the education of the clergy, the number of her ministers 
rapidly increased. In 1814, they were little more than 
two hundred and forty; but in forty-seven years this 
number increased to about two thousand four hundred, 
being a tenfold multiplication. In the same space of 
time the population of the United States advanced from 
about eight millions to nearly thirty-two millions, being 
a fourfold multiplication. As there is reason to think 
that the progress of the Church has been to some extent 
proportionate with that of the clergy, it may be safely 
inferred, that, notwithstanding all the known and ad- 
mitted difficulties of an imperfect voluntary system, 
the Church has increased even more rapidly than the 
nation.* 

Nearly contemporaneously with Bishop Hobart, the 
meek and amiable Grriswold entered on the charge of 
the Eastern diocese, then including all the New England 
States excepting Connecticut. In 1815 Dr. Croes became 
the first Bishop of New Jersey. In 1819 the intrepid 
Philander Chase was consecrated Bishop of Ohio. He was 
a native of New Hampshire and a descendant of Captain 
Aquila Chase, a Puritan from Cornwall, who settled in 
America in 1640. The family records state that this 

* See Appendix. 



220 Church 'Extension. 

Aquila was on one occasion brought to trial because, on 
his reaching home on Sunday morning after a long 
voyage, his wife gathered and dressed her first dish of 
green peas to welcome him. In vain he pleaded 
the danger of scurvy, and the necessities of health : the 
utmost favour he received was to escape the infliction 
of " forty stripes save one " by paying a heavy fine. 
Philander Chase was the fifth in descent from Aquila, 
and of the same religious persuasion. He first became 
acquainted with the Prayer-book in his nineteenth year, 
while a member of Dartmouth College, in New Hamp- 
shire. He tells us, in his " Keminiscences," that "amidst 
the manifold divisions, not to say schisms and heresies," 
to which the Puritan system had led, " the Prayer-book 
seemed a light,' mercifully designed by Providence to 
conduct himself and his friends into the paths of peace 
and order." He became an earnest Churchman, and 
his convictions were shared by his parents and other 
near relatives. Instead of repairing their meeting- 
house, in which the father and grandfather of young 
Chase had officiated as Congregational deacons, the 
people determined to pull it down, and erect an Epis- 
copal church in its place. Philander was ordained 
deacon by Bishop Provoost in 1798, and priest in the 
following year. After doing good service as a mis- 
sionary in the western parts of New York, and after- 
wards as the first clergyman of the church at New 
Orleans, he became rector of Christ Church at Hartford, 
in Connecticut. Hence he removed to Ohio in 1817, 
and, after exerting himself as a missionary during two 



Missionary Society. 22,1 

years, became the first bishop west of the mountains. 
Having appealed for aid to the friends of religion in 
England, as well as in America, he succeeded in esta- 
blishing Kenyon College, which has assisted greatly in 
supplying the western country with a native ministry. 

In 1818, a Missionary Association was formed in 
Pennsylvania, which planted a few churches in the 
western part of that State and in Ohio. A few years 
afterwards, this Society, under the auspices of the 
General Convention, became known as the "Domestic 
and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church." In 1835, its income, at first very small, 
had considerably increased, and it maintained clergy- 
men not only in the Western States, but in China, 
Africa, and at Athens. It was now determined that 
the whole Church should be regarded as a Missionary 
Association, and that the General Convention should 
appoint a Board of Missions, having two Committees, 
domestic and foreign. It was also decided that mis- 
sionary bishops should be provided for the States and 
Territories destitute of episcopal supervision, and ulti- 
mately for the stations in heathen lands occupied b}^ the 
American Church. Under this provision, Dr. Kemper 
was consecrated as Missionary Bishop for the North- 
West, and, three years afterwards, Dr. Polk (a near 
relative of the President of the same name) for the 
South- West. Bishop Chase, meeting with painful diffi- 
culties in Ohio, resigned his charge of that diocese, and 
was elected Bishop of Illinois, where he founded 
another College under the name of Jubilee. Dr. Ravens- 



222 Church Extension. 

croft, the first Bishop of North Carolina, was consecrated 
in 1823, and Kentucky, in like manner, received Dr. 
Smith as its bishop in 1832. In the same year the 
Church in Vermont had become sufficiently strong to 
separate from the Eastern diocese, and Dr. Hopkins, 
whose Address has been quoted, was elected and conse- 
crated its bishop. Four years afterwards, Dr. Otey, also 
mentioned in a former chapter, was consecrated for 
Tennessee. 

During these events, the Church in Virginia con- 
tinued to recover her lost ground under the venerable 
Bishop Moore and his assistant, Bishop Meade, conse- 
crated in 1829. A Seminary was founded within her 
limits at Alexandria, which began to send forth clergy- 
men in 1823, and which during nearly forty years 
has supplied a considerable number of pastors to the 
Southern and Western dioceses, as well as missionaries 
to foreign countries. There was now a great rekindling 
of personal devotion, and an ardent zeal generally per- 
vaded the younger clergy. The two Virginian bishops 
worked happily together, and when the aged Bishop 
Moore was gathered to his rest in 1842, he was suc- 
ceeded by his coadjutor, who in his turn found an 
assistant in Bishop Johns. 

In 1859, the number of the Virginian clergy was 113, 
and of the parishes and churches 174, with 7519 com- 
municants, and perhaps 38,000 or 40,000 regular wor- 
shippers, out of a population of 1,421,661. 

In Maryland the recovery has been still more 
striking. Dr. Claggett, the first bishop, was succeeded by 



Diocese of Maryland. 2,2,3 

his assistant, Dr. Kemp, a Scottish Episcopalian. After 
Bishop Kemp's sudden decease party-spirit ran so high, 
and the mode of election was, in that diocese, so defec- 
tive, that several years elapsed before a successor could 
be appointed. In 1830, a compromise was effected and 
Dr. Stone was raised to the episcopate. At his decease 
the old animosities burst forth, and, after another in- 
terregnum, the present learned and able prelate, Dr. 
Whittingham, was consecrated in 1840. Although the 
population of Maryland is little more than a third of 
that of Virginia, the number of its clergy, in 1859, was 
a hundred and fifty-nine, with ten thousand five 
hundred and eighty communicants, and about fifty 
thousand worshippers. It has a Diocesan College, that 
of St. James, which, in 1859, numbered a hundred and 
sixteen students. In this State, the Diocesan Convention 
enjoys the remarkable privilege of being a body cor- 
porate under the laws of the State.* The glebes remain 
in possession of the ancient parishes, and in some cases 
include as much as three hundred acres. The entire 
Church property is estimated at about a million of dollars 
over and above the value of the churches themselves. 
The pew-rents, for the whole diocese, produce about 
fifty thousand dollars, or ten thousand pounds per 
annum, besides a larger sum in voluntary contributions. 
The churches are a hundred and seventy-three in 
number, containing forty-five thousand sittings. The 
stipends of the clergy amount to eighty thousand dollars, 

* Journal of General Convention for 1859. 



234 Church Extension. 

or sixteen thousand pounds per annum, averaging about 
a hundred pounds a year each. The other expenses 
of public worship come to about the same amount. 

The diocese of New York was divided in 1839, and 
has since continued under two bishops. In the entire 
State there were, in ]859, four hundred and seventy 
clergymen, with thirty-five thousand three hundred and 
twenty-five communicants, a larger number by far than 
in any other State of the Union. But the population 
was at the same time rather more than three millions. 
In the city of New York alone, exclusive of the 
suburbs, there are now about sixty Episcopal churches. 

In Connecticut, once noted for the " Blue Laws," the 
growth of the Church has always been satisfactory. Bishop 
Seabury died in 1796, and was succeeded by Bishop Jarvis, 
who gave place at his decease to the present venerable 
senior bishop, Dr. Brownell, who has presided over the 
diocese during forty-two years, and has been assisted 
since 1851 by a valuable coadjutor in Bishop Williams. 
The population of Connecticut is but a quarter of that 
of Virginia, yet the Church has a hundred and thirty- 
three clergymen, and eleven thousand five hundred and 
seventy-five communicants. Trinity College, at Hart- 
ford, has long continued to raise up a supply of clergy, 
and now a divinity school at Middletown, on the Con- 
necticut Eiver, named after Bishop Berkeley, is ad- 
vancing the same good work. 

Ehode Island, formerly considered by the Puritans 
the " sink of New England," has a bishop (Dr. Clark) 
and thirty clergymen, with three thousand one hundred 



Death of Bishop White. 2,25 

and forty-two communicants out of a population 
under a hundred and fifty thousand, little more than 
a third of Connecticut. In Massachusetts, from whence 
the two Browns were ignominiously expelled for read- 
ing the Common Prayer, Dr. Eastburn is bishop, with 
seventy-seven clergy and seven thousand seven hundred 
and eighty communicants. New Jersey, with a popu- 
lation rather exceeding half a million, has Dr. Oden- 
heimer as bishop (the successor of the England-loving 
Bishop Doane), and a hundred and three clergymen, 
with five thousand communicants. In Pennsylvania, 
Bishop White continued happily to preside over the 
Church until he had seen the abundant fruit of his 
early labours, and of his wise and conciliatory conduct 
in the General Conventions of the preceding century. 
It was the good fortune of the writer of this work 
to form his acquaintance at his own home in 1829, and 
to hear from his own lips an account of his consecration 
at Lambeth, and of his presentation to King George 
and Queen Charlotte. He died on the 17th of July, 1836, 
in the eighty-ninth year of his age, the sixty-sixth of his 
ministry, and the fiftieth of his episcopate. He was suc- 
ceeded by Dr. Onderdonk, his assistant, who gave place 
to Bishop Potter, who in turn received an assistant in 
Bishop Bowman. The old Quaker colony now has two 
bishops, a hundred and ninety-three clergymen, and 
above fourteen thousand communicants, in a population 
of more than two millions and a quarter. Philadelphia, 
with a population of perhaps half a million, has about 
forty Episcopal churches, many of which (like those of 

Q 



2,2,6 Church Extension. 

New York) have been constructed at a great expense, and 
are capable of accommodating large congregations. 

The reader is now informed as to the outward con- 
dition, two years since, of the more flourishing dioceses 
of the American Church. There is great progress else- 
where ; but in the new Southern and Western States 
Church-work is comparatively new, and consequently 
less in advance. Thus, Ohio, with two bishops, 
Drs. M'llvaine and Bedell, has but eighty-four clergy- 
men, with less than six thousand communicants out 
of a population nearly equal to that of Pennsylvania. 
In Wisconsin, too, notwithstanding the labours of the 
indefatigable Bishop Kemper, and of the Theological 
School at Nashotah, the clergy, in 1859, were only 
forty-six, with about two thousand five hundred com- 
municants out of a population of five hundred and fifty 
thousand. 

It is satisfactory, however, to know that in all the 
States and Territories there is now episcopal superin- 
tendence, together with at least the framework of 
diocesan arrangements. It would be needless in this 
place to say more than that, in addition to those men- 
tioned above, bishops and clergy are provided for Maine, 
New Hampshire, Delaware, North and South Carolina, 
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, 
Texas, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Michigan, Iowa, 
Minnesota, California, and Oregon. Bishops are also 
placed over the Missions in China and Western Africa.* 

* See Appendix. 



Ecclesiastical Statistics. 2, % J 

The receipts of the Board of Missions, in its two 
departments, domestic aod foreign, are now about thirty- 
thousand pounds per annum, besides considerable sums 
raised for an American " Church Missionary Society," 
under the management of some of the " Evangelical " 
party. Most of the dioceses have also their separate 
missionary funds for the advancement of the Church 
within their own limits. The entire annual contri- 
butions for missionary and charitable purposes con- 
nected with the Church, were reported, in 1859, 
as amounting to five hundred and forty thousand 
dollars, or a hundred and eight thousand pounds. The 
stipends of the clergy, at a hundred pounds each, 
amount to about two hundred and forty thousand 
pounds, and other expenses of divine worship may be 
nearly the same. To these items must be added the 
cost of building perhaps seventy new churches in every 
year, which, at eight thousand dollars each, would be 
equal to a hundred and twelve thousand pounds. It 
appears then that American Churchmen pay voluntarily, 
for the support and diffusion of their religion, not less 
than seven hundred thousand pounds per annum. By 
the a Journal of the General Convention," it appears also 
that, in 1859, the number of communicants in the entire 
Church, was a hundred and thirty-nine thousand six 
hundred and eleven. According to the proportion which 
obtains in Maryland, this would give six hundred and 
sixty thousand as the number of actual Church-people at 
that time in the United States. But to this estimate must 
be added multitudes of persons attached to the Church, 

Q 2 



22$ Church 'Extension. 

and under its influence in various degrees, who yet can 
hardly be considered as its members. A large number 
of Church people are also scattered over the country, 
singly or in small quantities, unconnected with any con- 
gregation, and therefore not reported to the Convention. 
Altogether we may perhaps safely conclude that not far 
from two millions of Americans, and those usually of a 
superior class, are more or less connected with Protestant 
Episcopacy. 

It may be thought that the advance of the American 
Church is due in some considerable measure to emi- 
gration from England. Unhappily this is not the case. 
Although, sometimes, forty or fifty thousand persons 
from this country (exclusive of Ireland) have removed 
to the United States in a single year, few of the 
number attach themselves to the Church in America. 
The best of our emigrants prefer a residence in the 
colonies. A very large proportion of those Englishmen 
who choose the United States as their country are 
usually indifferent or opposed to all religion. Some 
are ordinary dissenters, some are dupes of the Mor- 
mon imposture, and those who were Churchmen in 
England often think that in parting from their native 
country they also part from the Church.* They 
generally make no attempt to obtain introductions to 



* See the papers of the Emigrants' Aid Society (published by 
Kivington), of which the writer is a Secretary. The design of this 
Society is to introduce our poor emigrants to the American clergy, and 
to assist in supplying them with ministers and in erecting their first 
humble churches in the new settlements. 



Loss of Emigrants. 22,g 

the American clergy ; they settle without regard to the 
proximity of a church, and are lost by thousands in the 
wildernesses of the West. Those who remain faithful to 
their spiritual mother are certainly not a tenth, perhaps 
not a twentieth, part of the whole. The American 
Episcopal Church, unlike the Church of Eome, expects 
little from emigration, and gains chiefly by natural 
increase, and by the numerous accessions which she is 
constantly receiving from dissenting bodies and the world 
at large. A deputation from the Society for Propagating 
the Grospel, of which the writer was a member, proceeded 
to America in 1853, to confer with the General Conven- 
tion on the advancement of missions by the joint efforts 
of the parent and daughter Churches. After much discus- 
sion it was finally agreed that our emigrants afforded a 
wide field for the exertion of Christian philanthropy, and 
that a system of introductions, if properly carried out, 
would supply an effectual means of keeping our poor 
people within the fold of the Church after their removal 
beyond the Atlantic. 

The General Convention of 1859 was held at Eich- 
mond, in Virginia, when the union and good feeling be- 
tween Churchmen of the North and of the South was 
an occasion of mutual rejoicing. The Presbyterian and 
Methodist " denominations " in America had been rent 
asunder by the slavery question ; but the Church re- 
mained undivided, and by her tone of moderation was 
considered to have acted as a bulwark against the 
double fanaticism which threatened to tear the country 
in pieces. Even the invasion and capture of John 

Q 3 



33° Church Extension. 

Brown, which happened during the session, failed to 
disturb the equanimity and brotherly affection of the 
assembled bishops, clergy, and laity. But in the very 
next year the Union was apparently, at least, broken up, 
and in seven of the dioceses the Church ceased to pray 
for the President and Congress, as it had formerly ceased 
to pray for the King and Parliament. With bitter grief, 
Churchmen found themselves torn asunder, and to 
many it seemed but too probable that no General Con- 
vention would again assemble, to represent the wishes 
and to direct the action of North and South alike. 

The following portion of a sermon preached by Dr. 
A. Vinton, of Trinity Church, Philadelphia, will serve 
to show the feelings of many Churchmen at this serious 
crisis, and at the same time will afford a specimen of 
American pulpit oratory : — 

fi A Divine and Almighty hand is stretched out con- 
tinually to shed down blessing and glory upon the up- 
right and virtuous State, to chasten its waywardness with 
a calamitous rod, or else to sweep it away, as with a 
sharp scythe of vengeance, on account of its iniquities. 
It may laud itself in its arrogance, and forget the Grod 
that sitteth above. But He laugheth it to scorn ; and, 
although, in His Almighty patience of endurance, He may 
lengthen the tether of its privilege, and extend the term 
of its probation, yet there is an overhanging doom to 
fall upon its guiltiness, when its guilt grows inveterate. 
A mightier nation, whom Grod sends, shall tread upon 
its heels in the pursuit of vengeance, or its own dan- 
gerous elements shall internally combine, and the judicial 



Dr. Vinton s Sermon. 23 f 

madness of the people shall explode the political fabric, 
and confusion shall overthrow the State, and dragons 
shall be in her palaces. This is the theology of history, 
forgotten, so far as I know, by all historians but one, 
and the forgetfulness of which has made all history 
profane, in a bad sense. This is the piety of politics, 
scorned by almost all politicians, whose scorning is the 
most fearful omen that overhangs our civil destiny. I 
call upon you to acknowledge to-day, my friends, with 
heartfelt adoration, that Jehovah reigneth over the 
nation. 

(l For if ever we had need to acknowledge it, it is now. 
This day of civic thanksgiving threatens to be among 
those latter days which shall leave our grand political 
fabric among the things that have been, when our 
thanks must be given for civil blessings perished and 
lost. We cannot think of it without a shudder, and 
that shudder is made up of patriotism, fellowship, and 
pride, all violated and broken. Grod has permitted, on 
this American land, a sublime and fearful experiment 
of self-government. It is a sublime thing for thirty 
millions of people to undertake the work of controlling 
themselves by their own sense of right and duty, with 
no power above them but that of their own laws, sworn 
to no allegiance but that of truth and justice, mutually 
conceived and universally acknowledged, and with no 
king but conscience. 

" In such a government, man approaches his sublime 
ideal, guided not by power, but by principle. Every 
energy may be put forth to the utmost, with none other 

Q 4 



2,32 Church Extension. 

than a moral check, and liberty may run on, step by 
step with reason, until the whole humanity is developed 
in the dignity of its godlikeness. This is the theory of 
our government, sublime if successful, but awful in its 
failure. If passion, pride, envy, avarice, injustice, dis- 
honesty, possess the people's hearts, then comes the 
crash and havock of a great force out of gear — the 
wretchedness of conscience perverted with passion, and 
the hopelessness of liberty run mad into licentiousness. 

"Thus far, we have thanked Grod for the nation, 
great, united, and free. We have sung a jubilate which 
has echoed over the seas till half the world has heard it. 
And more than half the world has sent its tribute of 
glad emigrants to swell our glory and strength, till it 
appeared as if Grod was forming a grand amalgam of 
the nations, gathering all the specimen tribes of men 
into one, to make of that one the controlling power of 
the world, until, by its influence, it should constrain all 
other nations into one great brotherhood like itself. 

" So plainly had all this been wrought and aided by 
Providence, that our love for this great Union took a 
sacred tinge, and our patriotism was piety. In the days 
past, so holy seemed the bond of fraternity, that no 
Christian prayer was uttered with more assurance of 
acceptance than the prayer that Grod would preserve the 
Union; and the same pious breath that uttered the 
supplication, was thought to be not less pious when it 
imprecated a palsy on the arm that should strike a blow, 
a scorching to the tongue that should utter a scoff or 
scorn, and a blighting of the mind that should conceive 



Lament over the Union. 233 

a plot against the brotherhood of States. But all this 
is past and gone. 

" Thirty years ago began, in some parts of the land, 
the cold-blooded calculation of the value of the Union. 
The generation whose young intellect was first stimu- 
lated by that problem has grown up into the conviction 
that the Union is worthless. And now, within that 
conviction, stiff and hard as cast iron, there boils an 
enthusiasm of passion which threatens at any moment 
to explode the whole fabric, and turn the Eepublic into 
a shapeless mass of fragments. Shall it be thus ? 
Shall the wheels of time be rolled back to the period 
of our severance and vassalage ? What, then, becomes 
of all the past — the glorious past? To whom, then, 
belongs the glory of our national independence — the 
fruit of the mingled blood of North and South ? Whose, 
then, is Washington? Whose the heritage of fame, 
world-honoured, but now split into parcels? Who 
would dare to boast of Eevolutionary pedigree ? What 
tongue would not falter to claim an ancestry whose 
nobility was earned by strife and blood, for the very 
Union which that tongue scoffs at and repudiates? 
Whose ears would not tingle at the name of a patriot 
grandsire shaming the posterity who trample his martyr- 
blood in the dust of his broken Eepublic ? Who shall 
give us another 4th of July? What becomes of the 
grand lesson which we have been teaching to the world 
of popular sovereignty, and the dignity of freedom? 
How will absolutism laugh, and abjectism clank its 
chains with severer woe ? Austria in glee. Hungary 



234 Church 'Extension. 

in tears. Young Italy with the dew of its birth yet fresh 
upon it, will not its exulting life turn pale and sickly 
again with despondency ? What becomes of the Ame- 
rican name, potential in all lands ? Who will know 
America ? What, is America broken to pieces ? Brethren, 
it requires the sternest stuff that religious faith was ever 
made of, to stand beneath this burden of sad reflections 
and fears, and look up to heaven, and calmly say, ( The 
Lord reign eth; let the earth rejoice.' Yet the one 
must be said, and the other must be done, and if 
we rightly recognise the truth of Grod's dominion, we 
shall be ready to do the duty of rejoicing and praise, 
whatever may befall. If the Lord reigneth, then has 
He not suffered this sorrowful fear to fall upon us for 
our sins against him ? Our great experiment of freedom 
could only succeed by being based upon the moral 
virtue of the people and their clear intelligence. Are 
these conditions to be found with us? I will not 
answer in detail, for you can answer as well as I ; but 
when official corruption becomes so prevalent as to 
reach the highest stations in the land, when bribery and 
intemperance, and quarrels, infest and poison our legis- 
lation, when, with our growing prosperity, our pride, 
self-will, covetousness, selfishness, and passions, swell 
and effloresce into all sorts of immorality, must we not 
fear to know that the Lord reigneth ? Do we not de- 
serve a day of rebuke and chastening ? Ought not our 
towering crest to be brought low ? 

"When the national conscience is drugged and 
stupefied, does it not need a wound to awaken it? 



National Retribution. 23$ 

Because Grod has not abdicated His dominion, may it 
not be that He is teaching us to be still, and know that 
He is Grod ? And yet, because He reigneth, may we not 
learn a lesson of duty that shall yet save the Kepublic ? 
If any one part of the nation has invaded the rights of 
another part by offensive and unbrotherly legislation, 
may there not be time to repent, and amend, and retract 
the offence, doing- right first, and then asking the 
reward of right-doing ? 

" And because the Lord reigneth, we may pray that 
He would so rule the wills of his people, that whatever 
is done, shall be done deliberately, rationally, peaceably, 
and with His approval ; and then, though the nation be 
divided, we may still rejoice. If His Divine wisdom 
shall order the separation of the brotherhood, then shall 
we not be forsaken, though we be alone. And even if, 
like all other democracies, we should be destined to be 
riven asunder, and disintegrated from sea to sea (for 
the spirit of schism is procreative), even if States be 
resolved into towns, and communities divided into 
classes, and classes broken into factions, and factions 
beaten into pieces of individuality, to carry out the 
independence and self-will of us Americans, then — why, 
even then rejoice that the Lord reigneth; for if there 
be no reigning Lord Grod Omnipotent, to sway the 
unruly wills of men, and turn their hearts like rivers of 
water, alas for us and our children, and alas for man ! 
Eesort to Him, then, in the thick-coming evils, and show 
how devoutly grateful you are for His sovereignty, by 
making use of it for the nation's weal. In the cordial 



236 Church 'Extension. 

remembrance of our civil blessings to-day, recount, 
along our nation's history, the steps of a divinity which 
has thus far shaped our ends, and let His past mercies 
be the argument to fill our mouths when we plead 
for the conservation of the people's rights and the na- 
tion's life." 



The Memorial. .237 



CHAP. X. 

THE CHUECH AND OTHER SOCIETIES. 

THE " MEMORIAE " IN FAVOUR OF CHRISTIAN UNION. — OPINIONS OF 
VARIOUS DISSENTERS IN REGARD TO THE INCREASE OF THE EFFI- 
CIENCY OF THE CHURCH. — DIFFICULTIES IN THE "WAY OF AN ACKNOW- 
LEDGMENT OF DISSENTING ORDERS. RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE 

COMMISSION ON THE MEMORIAL. — RELIGIOUS CENSUS OF THE UNITED 

STATES. EFFECTS OF UNLIMITED DIVISION. BLESSINGS OF UNION. 

THE CHURCH A FITTING CENTRE OF UNITY. 

jHE General Convention held in New 
York in 1853 (at which the English 
deputation was present) was marked by 
many signs of awakened zeal. Among 
these may be reckoned a Memorial, 
much in the spirit of Bishop Madison's proposal in 
1792, signed by several distinguished clergymen, and 
presented to the Bishops.* This memorial suggested 
the general question, whether the posture of the Church 
was all that could be wished, in view of the distracted 
and divided state of American Christianity, the new 
forms of unbelief, the progress of Eomanism, and " the 
utter ignorance of the Grospel among a large portion of 

* The Memorial Papers, edited by Bishop Potter, of Pennsylvania, 
and published at Philadelphia by Butler and Co., 1857. 




338 The Church and other Societies. 

the lower classes of the population." The memorialists 
inquired whether the usefulness of the Church might 
not be enlarged by relaxing somewhat the strict rule of 
the liturgical services, and by conferring Holy Orders 
on conditions somewhat less stringent than before. 
That this memorial expressed a widely prevalent feel- 
ing, may be concluded from the fact that it was referred 
by a large majority in the Upper House to a Commis- 
sion of five Bishops, with instructions to consider the 
subject, and to report to the next Convention. 

A circular with questions, inviting communications, 
was accordingly addressed by the Bishops to many 
persons of influence at home and abroad, both within 
and without the pale of the Church. The principal 
answers received fill a considerable volume. Some 
of them were valuable, and the proposals of Pres- 
byterian, Congregationalist, Baptist, Grerman Eeformed, 
and Methodist divines, added considerably to the 
interest attached to the correspondence. 

A Presbyterian wrote, "The Episcopal Church can 
do much to conciliate and harmonise Protestant Chris- 
tendom ; but every movement in that direction will 
relatively tend to increase her influence and numbers, 
and to diminish ours." 

A Congregationalist suggested the need of a ministry 
of limited literary acquirements, in addition to a well- 
educated clergy. He proposed also the ordination of 
a diaconate, ineligible to the higher orders of the 
ministry. 

A Baptist observed that, through the operation of 






Dissenting Opinions. 239 

societies for helping young men to prepare for ordina- 
tion, the ministry had become in a great measure elee- 
mosynary. " Able men keep out of it, and it is the 
resort of moderate men, who, thus brought up, bow 
before wealth, and are destitute of all moral courage." 
He proposed that the masses should be aroused, and 
every man taught to be a propagandist of Christianity. 
He admired the responses in the Church services, and 
wished the principle extended to congregational singing. 
He would have several deacons in every Church, labour- 
ing among the poor. 

A G-erman Eeformed minister, after mentioning that 
his own community was rapidly approximating to a 
Liturgy like our own, expressed his hope that the 
Episcopal Church, without giving up any of the advan- 
tages of her time-honoured form of government and 
worship, would relax the exclusive rigour of this form, 
and allow the clergy freedom to adapt the Church to 
the great mass of the people, " instead of being confined 
almost, as is now too much the case, to a particular class 
of society." 

A Methodist minister wrote, i( I have always regarded 
the Church of England as the central framework and 
life of Protestantism in Great Britain and her depen- 
dencies ; and I have regarded the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in America as containing the same elements of 
durability and life. And yet I believe . that neither in 
England nor in the United States has the Church fully 
accomplished her great mission to the masses of the 
people. Why has she failed, when she has the essential 



24-0 The Church and other Societies. 

elements of durability and life in her organisation, in 
her teaching, and in her worship ? The answer is, She 
is hindered by external restraints. She is not at liberty 
to approach the masses of the people in her public 
service, in the places and under the circumstances in 
which they actually exist, and to speak and minister to 
them as their varied conditions require." He proceeded 
to remark that, "by her excellent government and 
order, and by her scriptural and beautiful liturgy, the 
Church is admirably calculated to cherish and edify 
those whose hearts have been drawn to her." But the 
difficulty is to draw them. In order to do this, he 
would suggest a greater freedom and earnestness in 
preaching, and in other services adapted to the varying 
wants of the people. He anticipated, however, a great 
difficulty in the way of the Church becoming, as pro- 
posed by the memorialists, "a central bond of union 
among Christians." This difficulty he found in "the 
growing impression that the Protestant Episcopal Church 
is gradually settling down into the conclusion that the 
ministries of other Churches are invalid, and that the 
Sacraments ought not to be received at their hands." 
To remove this obstacle, he thought that, while pre- 
ferring and holding as of best authority and most effi- 
cient her own ordination and orders of the ministry, 
she ought to accept and respect the validity of the 
ministries in the other Protestant Churches. 

In regard to this last proposal, it may be well to 
remark that an acknowledgment of dissenting orders 
would be an act for which, in the absence of direct proof 



Dissenting Orders. 2\\ 

of their validity, the Church would be wholly incom- 
petent. The ordination of the different dissenting bodies 
rests also on various grounds, and it would be impos- 
sible to acknowledge it in one instance without denying 
it by consequence in others. We have seen that the 
Methodist ordination is wholly derived from Wesley, 
who was himself only in priest's orders. Prcsbyterianism, 
under its different names, rests upon a foundation essen- 
tially the same. But if Presbyterian or Methodist 
ordination is declared to be regular and right, it follows 
necessarily that Congregational or Baptist ordination is 
irregular and wrong. The Congregationalists (or Inde- 
pendents) reject the idea of any succession in the 
ministry, whether through Bishops or through Presbyters. 
They regard the lay congregation as having full power to 
confer the ministerial commission, and to ordain its own 
pastors. This system is not more ancient than the 
beginning of the seventeenth century. The Baptists 
sprang from the Congregationalists, and originated in 
1639 with Koger Williams, the founder of Ehode Island, 
previously a minister of the Church of England. Mr. 
Ezekiel Holliman, a layman, immersed Mr. Williams, 
and, in turn, Mr. Williams immersed Mr. Holliman. 
The Baptist ordination has the same authority with that 
of the Congregationalists, and no more. The Quaker 
goes further than even the Baptist, and rests the proof 
of his authority to minister, not on any ordination, but 
on his own simple assertion of an inward movement 
of the Holy Spirit. Is the American Church to acknow- 
ledge the Methodist and Presbyterian, and to reject the 



X\2 The Church and other Societies. 

Baptist, the Puritan, and the Quaker, or is she at once 
to go the length of acknowledging the Quaker, and 
thereby declaring that all ordination, whether Episcopal, 
Presbyterian, Congregational, or Baptist, is alike a base- 
less assumption ? This would be to pour contempt not 
only on her own fathers, who so earnestly sought the 
Episcopate from England, but upon the ordination still 
regarded as sacred by eleven-twelfths of Christendom. 

The five Bishops forming the Commission, after duly 
weighing the numerous suggestions received by them, 
drew up a valuable document in the shape of a Eeport. 
In this they recommended the cultivation of extempore 
preaching, and maintained the necessity of more force 
and directness in sermons, and more special adaptation 
to the varying circumstances of the people. They pro- 
posed that, in adjusting the length of the public services, 
more regard should be had to the physical ability of 
ministers and people, especially during the debilitating 
heats of summer. Different employments, they wrote, 
should be found in the Church for persons of different 
qualities of mind and body. Those who are cordial, 
frank, and fond of moving from place to place, might be 
employed as evangelists, while those who have powers 
of organising and swaying bodies of men should be 
called to rule. Thus the Church would be saved 
the shame of having "ministers who yet do not 
minister, rectors who cannot govern, and pastors who 
do not feed the flock." Positive and regular instruction 
of their children was recommended to parents, cate- 
chising to the clergy, and severe mental discipline to 



Statistics of Dissent. 343 

candidates for Orders. Ministers were exhorted to 
read the Liturgy more devotionally, and to bring their 
people to love sacred music and to join heartily in public 
worship. Attention was called to the wasted energy and 
unemployed power of the women of the Church, and the 
Bishops declared that " the Sisters of Charity in the 
Komish communion are worth, perhaps, more to their 
cause than the combined wealth of their hierarchy, the 
learning of their priesthood, and the self-sacrificing zeal 
of their missionaries." 

In regard to Christians of other denominations, the 
Bishops recommended Churchmen, " in view of the mo- 
mentous interests involved in the final disposition of 
this question, to strive to keep the unity of the Spirit 
in the bond of peace." They exhorted them to do 
justice to the merits of other systems, to repress a spirit 
of self-laudation, and to infuse into the divine services 
"more of the ancient and historical element on one 
side, and of the popular and practical on the other." 
They advised also a more cordial manner towards the 
ministers of other religious bodies, a lessening of canoni- 
cal impediments in the way of their regular ordination, 
and, above all, an increase of the attractive power of 
the Church by more abundant self-denial, charity, and 
devotion. 

Having thus been led to the subject of American 
Dissent (for such it remains in fact, though an Esta- 
blishment is wanting), the reader will naturally expect 
further information on this important point. The 
American Census of 1850 contains a considerable mass 

R 2 



244 The Church and other Societies. 

of interesting religious statistics, and continues to be our 
best authority since present troubles have delayed the 
publication of the abstract of the Census for 1860. Of 
course, allowance must be made for the increase of the 
people in the meanwhile from twenty-three to more 
than thirty-one millions. 

In America * we find the sectarian principle developed 
to a greater extent than in any other country in the 
world. Americans are accustomed to this state of 
things, and often glory in it as an illustration of their 
freedom. But it is quite evident that the original plan 
of Christianity allowed no place for separate, uncon- 
nected, and opposing systems, each following its own 
rule, and judging of truth under the bias of local 
and sectional prejudices. The idea which we gather 
from Scripture is, that mankind should form a society 
of disciples, taught by men commissioned from above, 
to observe and do all things whatsoever Christ has 
commanded. When this idea has been generally lost 
sight of, our holy religion loses, in a great measure, 
its character as a bond of peace and harmony. Mean- 
while, any system of belief which has once come 
into existence, advances with a life of its own, perhaps 
as little dependent on the conclusions of sound argument 
as the trees of the forest or the weeds of the garden. 
Indeed, some bodies, called religious, are little more 
than organised forms of ignorance, imposture, or 
malignity. 

* A portion of the following account of American sects was originally 
written by the author for the " Churchman's Magazine " in 1854. 



Romanism and Ultra-Protestantism. 245 

The American mind has not given birth to many new 
sectarian elements, for it has generally been content, in 
schism as well as in politics, to build on the foundations 
already laid. But, in the United States, the sects which 
in Europe are more or less separated by geographical or 
social distinctions, are seen growing side by side in the 
same districts, the same towns and villages, and often 
under the same domestic roof. All, of course, believe 
themselves to be guided by their own judgment; but 
consequences follow like those which might be expected 
in a field sown with different varieties of seed. A num- 
ber of hybrid species are produced ; and though much 
good grain is ripened, the crop is not, on the whole, of 
the most satisfactory description. 

It may be questioned whether the American revolu- 
tionary veterans would approve of the present state of 
American politics. It is quite certain that the Swiss 
and Grerman Reformers, if permitted to revisit the 
earth, would be sorely perplexed by the divisions and 
subdivisions of American Protestantism. Yet, by 
glancing further south, at Mexico, a country colonised 
by the devoted servants of the Papacy, and from which 
private judgment on religion has been diligently ex- 
cluded, they might view with more complacency the 
effect of their own work. They would feel that if an 
Ultra-Protestantism has produced bitter fruits in one 
direction, unreformed Romanism has failed at least as 
conspicuously in another. 

The entire population of the United States in 
1850 amounted to more than 23,000,000. Of these 

R 3 



246 The Church and other Societies. 

15,000,000 were of Anglo-Saxon origin ; three millions 
and a half of African; and the remaining five or 
six millions of Irish, French, and Grerman descent. 
The entire accession to the population, by means of 
emigration, since the year 1 790, had been only 3,000,000 ; 
and of that number not more than half were living. 
The 15,000,000 Anglo-Saxons constituted the bone 
and sinew of the country. 

It would therefore be reasonable to expect that 
English forms of religion should preponderate over 
others. This, accordingly, we find to be true in fact. 
There were within the limits of the States, in 1850, 
not less than 36,011 places of worship, able to accom- 
modate 13,849,896 people. Of these more than one- 
third (viz. 12,467) were Methodist meeting-houses, 
capable of holding four millions and a quarter. Next 
to these in number were 8791 Baptist places of worship, 
built for three millions of people. Then followed 4584 
Presbyterian houses, for two millions. The Lutherans, 
with accommodation for half a million of people, 
occupied 1203 places of prayer and preaching. After 
these came 1112 churches and cathedrals, accommo- 
dating 620,950 Eoman Catholics. Next to these on the 
list of the Census are the persons called Christians, 
acknowledging the Atonement in words, but denying 
the Trinity, and in other respects Baptists. This sect 
had 812 meeting-houses with sittings for 300,000. 
The 280,000 Quakers counted 714 places of meeting. 
The Universalists, with 494 congregations, preached 
the doctrine that the wicked should not be cast into 



Position of the Church. 247 

hell. The Unitarians "proper" were estimated at 
140,000, with 243 meeting-houses. There remained 
2495 places of meeting, divided among the Moravians, 
Grerman Eeformed and Dutch Eeformed, and other 
sects far inferior to them, such as Jews, Mormons, 
Swedenborgians, Tunkers, and Shakers. Bishop Bur- 
gess, of Maine, in his Charge for 1853, gives us to 
understand that the above enumeration of sittings 
conveys an exaggerated idea of the number of 
persons attending divine worship. He says, " Few 
would venture to compute the collective number of 
men who on the Lord's Day are found in all places 
of worship, and compare it with the census of the 
country." 

In 1850, our own Church occupied in American reli- 
gion a position similar to that of our own earth in the 
solar system, being, with its 1500 churches and 700,000 
sittings, inferior in magnitude to some bodies and 
superior to others. It stood between the Presbyterians 
and the Lutherans, and, like our earth, was subject to 
influences emanating from its more powerful neighbours. 
It may, however, be said with truth, that the American 
Church is far more important in reality than she could 
be made to appear by the enumerations of a census. 
Most of the sects which figure so largely on paper have 
already undergone the catastrophe once supposed to 
have happened to a planet. They have split into frag- 
ments, many of them considerably smaller than the 
body with which it is our own happiness to be connected. 
The Methodists, apparently so vast a " denomination," 

R 4 



248 The Church and other Societies. 

are divided into three or four sects, some of which 
reject the Wesleyan Episcopacy. Even those who call 
themselves members of the " Methodist Episcopal 
Church " are divided into two distinct organisations, 
North and South, which separated on the question of 
the sinfulness of maintaining negro slavery. The Bap- 
tists, again, are divided into a multitude of minor sects, 
the very enumeration of which would be painfully 
tedious. We may mention among others the Seventh- 
day Baptists, who keep their Sabbath on Saturday, the 
Campbellite Baptists (from whom many of the pecu- 
liarities of Mormonism were derived), the Free-will 
Baptists, the Ironside Baptists (fatalists like the Mo- 
hammedans), and the Six-Principle Baptists. The 
Presbyterians again, besides the division between North 
and South, have their old and new school party (each 
with its separate General Assembly), Cumberland Pres- 
byterians, Associate Presbyterians, Eeformed Presby- 
terians, Associate-Kef ormed Presbyterians, and perhaps 
others. 

Considering the great influx of Irish and German emi- 
grants, it appears remarkable that, in 1850, the Roman 
Catholic worshippers should have been estimated as low 
as 620,950. But, in the first place, vast numbers of 
that " denomination " are engaged as workmen on rail- 
ways, as domestic servants in remote places, and in 
other situations where they cannot readily be collected 
into congregations. And, secondly, multitudes of the 
Irish and Germans, after landing in America, bid fare- 
well to the priest, and attach themselves to some 



Cost of Places of Worship, 249 

Protestant body, or become vicious and profligate 
infidels. 

The researches made during the Census showed 
that the average cost of each of the 36,000 places of 
worship existing in 1850, was about 500?., and the 
average sittings in each 384. The estimated value of 
the whole amounted to about 18,000,000?. sterling. 
In regard to architectural cost, the Church appears 
to great advantage, considering the disproportion of 
numbers. While the Methodist meeting-houses were 
valued at about 3,000,000?., and the Presbyterian at 
something less, the Episcopal churches stood third on 
the list, and were estimated at 11,250,000 dollars, 
or 2,250,000?. Eomish churches and cathedrals 
are valued at 1,800,000?. ; Congregational meeting- 
houses at 1,600,000?. ; Dutch Eeformed at 600,000?. ; 
and Unitarian at 400,000?. The most costly houses of 
worship were those of the wealthy and fashionable 
Unitarians, the average of each being nearly 2700?. 
Next are the Dutch, formerly the established order in 
(i New Amsterdam " and its dependencies. The average 
cost of a Dutch Eeformed place of worship is 2600?. 
The Jewish Synagogues follow, each of which appears 
to be worth 2400?. A Eomish place of worship costs 
1600?. One of our own churches in America is erected 
at an average expenditure of 1580?. Presbyterian, 
Methodist, and Baptist meeting-houses are decidedly 
cheaper, and the cheapest of all are those of the 
German "Tunkers," each of which is set down at an 
average of 177?. 



25° The Church and other Societies. 

The religious " accommodation " varies in different 
parts of the country. In 1850 the most abundant was 
found in Florida, Indiana, Delaware, and Ohio, in which 
States there was a place of worship of some kind for 
every 510 of the entire population. The worst districts 
in this particular, at the above date, were Texas, Iowa, 
Louisiana, and California ; the Californian churches 
and meeting-houses being in the ratio of one to every 
7000 of the inhabitants. The average accommodation 
throughout the whole United States was one place of 
worship for every 646 of the entire population. About 
600,000L were annually expended on the erection of new 
edifices of this description ; while the yearly remunera- 
tion of the 28,000 or 30,000 ministers, of all denomi- 
nations, was little less than 2,000,000L, or rather under 
70£. each. If living were in general as expensive as 
in England, this would be starvation indeed. Nothing 
is more common in America than the existence of half 
a dozen or a dozen poor ministers, each with his frail 
and small meeting-house, in some village which, if 
united, could decently support one well-educated rector, 
with an assistant, and maintain one good and sub- 
stantial church, with manifest advantage to the comfort 
and harmony of all. 

The enumeration of the Census gives a vast pre- 
ponderance to the professedly Trinitarian denomi- 
nations of Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Con- 
gregationalists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, and Eoman 
Catholics. It will be noticed that out of 14,000,000 
sittings in the various places of worship, more than 



Trinitarian Bodies. 251 

12,000,000 are provided by those who, if only they 
adhere to their original principles, maintain great and 
fundamental truths of Christianity. It is also satis- 
factory to observe that the worst and most mischievous 
sects appear to possess little vitality in themselves, 
or to have been mercifully kept in check by an 
unseen hand. Those which rose up in England with 
the greatest amount of energy and self-dependence, 
have been generally the most successful in enlisting 
proselytes beyond the Atlantic. We have much comfort 
in believing that among the Trinitarian bodies, not- 
withstanding their divisions, the Scriptures are held 
in considerable veneration, and that, although sectarian 
traditions too often nullify many portions of Holy Writ, 
there are multitudes of individuals, beyond the limits 
of our own Church, who live under the influence of 
Divine Truth, and " walk with God." Far from deny- 
ing the salvability of such individuals, we regard them 
with admiration, and thankfully behold in them the 
character of true saints. Doubtless many American 
Christians who have enjoyed no religious advantages 
beyond the Bible and the rudest sectarian preaching, 
will, in the day of judgment, condemn those who, with 
all the advantages of apostolical ordinances and well- 
defined doctrine, have proved comparatively barren 
and unfruitful. Yet we cannot close our eyes to the 
danger of those who are committed to the teaching of 
bodies which have no well-grounded claim to the 
character of true Churches of Christ. Most of the 
American sects have shown a decided want of stability, 



% 52 The Church and other Societies, 

and in too many cases the general tendency has been 
towards deterioration. For example, a very large pro- 
portion (one half, it is said) of the Puritan congregations 
have departed from their old orthodox doctrines. In 
these congregations, which are bound by no common 
creed or confession, the truths of our Lord's Divinity 
and Atonement have often been more and more omitted 
in the public ministrations until finally they have come 
to be openly denied. The children of religious men are 
thus gradually betrayed into Socinianism, and the grand- 
children, perhaps, become Deists or Pantheists. The 
Presbyterians of the " new school " are said to lean 
towards the denial of original sin, and of the " Eternal 
Sonship " of Christ. The Methodists are in danger of 
an extravagant pietism, accompanied by a contempt of 
doctrinal truth. Among the Baptist sects every kind 
of heresy is active. One believes in a Sabellian Deity, 
another denies the mercy of Grod to children, while a 
third holds Christian education to be a sinful attempt 
to interfere with the divine predestination. 

Dr. Chapman, a vigorous and striking American 
writer, truly said * : — "In these United States, there 
are hundreds of preachers who cannot even read the 
Bible they undertake to expound. The qualifications of 
others are limited to vociferation and riot, excitement 
and passion, incredible tales and incoherent exclama- 
tions. Sermons have degenerated into a disconnected 
series of anecdotes, and pastoral visits into convenient 

* Sermons, p. 349. 



Revivalism. 2,$$ 



vehicles for the retail of gossip. For the form of sound 
words, we have jargon. For the excellency of sound 
doctrine, multitudes are destined to listen to the vaga- 
ries and the cant of empiricism." 

" Eevivalism " has been a very common feature of 
American dissent, and seems to accord with the American 
habit of thinking and acting in masses rather than as 
individuals. The effects which followed Mr. Whitfield's 
preaching among the Puritans in New England are 
described as follows, and may be taken as a sample of 
revivals in general, when uncontrolled by better in- 
fluences. 

" Whitfield found the flame of piety," says the Bishop 
of Oxford, "already burning low amongst the Inde- 
pendent congregations ; for in the institutions of no 
separatists from the Church has the gift of enduring 
spiritual vitality been found. He boldly charged them 
with having left the f platform ' of their ancient doc- 
trines, and reviled them in his sermons under the un- 
welcome titles of ( hirelings and dumb dogs, half beasts 
and half devils.' He endeavoured to revive the ancient 
spirit by a series of violent excitements. . . Fanaticism 
in its maddest forms triumphed for a while ; introducing 
new divisions in its train, and leading many into the 
open profession of Antinomian tenets." " A number of 
vagrant preachers arose," says a contemporary writer, 
" and by their boisterous behaviour and vehement cry- 
ing, e Come to Christ,' many were struck, as the phrase 
is, and made the most terrible and affecting noise, that 
was heard a mile from the place. . . .Many, after the 



354 The Church and other Societies, 

amazing horror and distress that seized them, received 
comfort (as they term it), and five or six of the young 
men are continually going about, especially in the 
night, converting, as they call it, their fellow-men. 
Their meetings are held almost every night, and the 
most astonishing effects attend them ; screechings, faint- 
ings, convulsions, visions, apparent death for twenty or 
thirty hours, actual possessions of evil spirits, as they 
own themselves. This spirit in all is remarkably bitter 
against the Church of England." 

To this we may add that since the re-appearance of 
necromancy, under the name of " spiritualism," more 
dangerous by far than the old witchcraft of Massachu- 
setts, many persons, otherwise intelligent, have learned 
to " seek unto them that have familiar spirits," under 
the belief that they may thus obtain better revelations, 
than those contained in the Bible.* 

The mixture of sects produces in some minds a 
deplorable latitudinarianism, and an indifference to the 
distinction between truth and error. The more the 
sects are blended together the greater becomes this 
form of evil. Society cannot but be sensible of the 
misery of division, and naturally endeavours to recon- 
struct itself on some wide and general basis. Hence 
many good people readily engage in mixed religious 
and benevolent associations, the leading principle of 
which is the exclusion of all denominational peculiari- 
ties. The consequence is, of course, most prejudicial to 

* See a Lecture by the Key. Dr. Kandall, delivered in Pitt's Street 
Chapel, Boston, 1858. 



Effects of Division. 255 

those bodies which hold the greatest number of definite 
truths, and on Church-people in particular the necessary 
effect of such associations is a slight esteem for Sacra- 
ments, Orders, Liturgies, and old religious forms in 
general. Great numbers again, after carelessly asking- 
Pilate's question, " What is truth ? " reject inspiration, 
and stand aloof from all religious organisations what- 
soever. Indeed, from the early prevalence of division, 
absolute indifference to religious distinctions became a 
principle of the political institutions of the country, 
and political considerations are ever uppermost in the 
ordinary American mind. 

Bishop Burgess says in the Charge quoted above : — 
" The sentiment that children should be left to form 
their religious opinions in riper years, attests the utter 
want of personal confidence in the truths of revelation. 
Every young man accordingly finds himself surrounded 
by a clashing variety of assertions. He has no ability 
to judge in some controversies ; of others he becomes 
impatient. He sees nothing which is not denied by some 
party, and he is invited by each to join its standards. 
Three courses of conduct are open to him. He may 
disbelieve entirely ; or he may believe with some one 
body of those who profess themselves Christians ; or he 
may postpone all decision, and be governed, in the 
partial support which he gives to one body or another, 
by education or circumstances, or some half-formed 
impression. The first of these three courses is taken 
by few; but the third is the choice of the majority. 
The miserable sense of uncertainty remains ; and those 



2 5 6 T$£ Church and other Societies. 

who might be the strength and glory of the Church of 
Christ live for this world, and die without distinct 
belief or personal hope." 

Yet, after all, there is a movement among the more 
respectable sects which, in the long run, must tend, we 
may hope, to improvements. The recent introduction of 
Liturgies into public worship by several of these bodies 
is one of the most significant marks of an inclination to 
return to primitive usage. The " denominations" which 
in former days inveighed most strongly against an edu- 
cated ministry, have now more colleges than the Church 
itself possesses. Once it was considered a sin to have 
instrumental music in the sanctuary, while there is now 
scarcely a place of worship in the cities and towns which 
has not an organ. Clerical vestments are coming into 
use, and crosses are sometimes erected even on the 
spires of Puritan meeting-houses. The old style of 
meeting-house, with its two rows of square windows, is 
generally abandoned, and edifices having all the out- 
ward appearance of " Grothic " churches are becoming- 
more and more common. 

Another more important sign of progress in a right 
direction has already been noticed. The American 
Episcopal clergy have been supplied in a very large 
proportion from the ranks of the dissenting bodies.* 
The late Bishop Grriswold stated in 1841 that of two 
hundred and eighty-five clergymen ordained by him, 
two hundred and seven came into the ministry from the 

* Dr. Eandall's Lecture, quoted above. 



Blessings of Unity. 257 

surrounding "denominations." Of the eighteen hundred 
clergymen in the Episcopal Church a few years since, it 
was estimated that about twelve hundred had been 
gathered in from the Presbyterians, Congregationalists, 
Methodists, Baptists, Eoman Catholics, Unitarians, and 
other external sources. Considering how much benefit 
the Church has derived from the energy and ability of 
many of these recruits, we are led the more earnestly to 
desire a general union of Christ's flock on the basis of 
sound ecclesiastical principles. How great a blessing it 
would be to America and to Christendom, if, instead of 
wasting their strength and temper in mutual rivalry, 
the believers in One Eedeemer were to become truly 
* members of one another," and assist in advancing by 
their joint prayers and efforts the kingdom of (rod upon 
earth. Unbelief would then be deprived of one of its 
most plentiful sources of supply, religion would be a 
visible effectual bond of union, and the Gospel would 
be propagated with vigour and effect throughout the 
globe. 

The American Episcopal Church unquestionably 
affords a centre of unity which can be found in no 
other body calling itself Protestant. A practical proof 
of this is supplied by the fact that the members of 
other communities, whether Presbyterian, Methodist, 
Quaker, or Eoman Catholic, are usually ready to admit 
that the Church stands second only in their regard to 
the sect to which they respectively belong. " Where," 
says Bishop Hopkins, " is the Church which deserves 
so well to be called the Church of the Bible — the 



2 $8 The Church and other Societies. 

Church of the Apostles — the Church of Grod? What 
other Christian community can prove to the same 
extent its harmony with the early age of primitive 
purity and devotion ? What other can bid defiance to 
every assault of heresy and schism? Look at Pro- 
testant Germany, torn into fragments under the bane- 
ful influence of neology, and rationalism, and pantheism. 
Look at the pulpit of Calvin, filled by such Socinian 
teachers as Calvin himself would have committed to 
the stake. Look at the constantly multiplying divisions 
of all the sects in Protestant Christendom, and they tell 
the same melancholy tale of incapacity to hold fast the 
" faith once delivered to the saints." Is there any 
centre of unity to be found amongst these ? Alas, no ! 
There is but one Church which presents the aspect of 
steadfast, immovable, Scriptural and Apostolic con- 
stancy, which these distracted times require ; and that 
is the privileged Church of our happy communion. 
Notwithstanding our personal demerits, the broad facts 
of the case remain indisputably certain. The wise 
providence of the Almighty has stamped upon the 
Church those great marks of Scriptural truth, of 
apostolical ministry, of primitive worship, of firm 
stability, and of steady advancement, which can be 
found nowhere else in the whole length and breadth 
of Christendom. And I assert them in the strongest 
confidence of deep sincerity, because they seem to 
manifest the true function of the Church, as the only 
centre of unity to the jarring, unsettled, and storm- 
tossed divisions of our Protestant brethren." 



Slavery an Inheritance. 



259 



CHAP. XI. 

THE CHURCH AND SLAVERY. 

AMERICAN SLAVERY AN INHERITANCE. ITS GRADUAL ABOLITION 

ARRESTED. EVIL EFFECTS OF SLAVERY ON THE WHITE POPULATION. 

RELATIVE POSITION OF THE AFRICAN AND AMERICAN NEGRO. 

REAL EVILS OF INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE. SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENTS 

USED LN THE SOUTH IN SUPPORT OF IT. POSITION OF THE AMERICAN 

CHURCH LN REFERENCE TO SLAVERY. OPINIONS OF ENGLISH DIVINES. 

EFFORTS OF THE CHURCH IN SOUTH CAROLINA. THE BISHOPS AND 

THEIR SLAVES. ABOLITIONISM ALLIED WITH INFIDELITY. CHARACTER 

OF SOUTHERN RELIGION. SECONDARY SLAVERY OF THE FREE NEGRO. 

ACTUAL DEMERITS OF SLAVERY. DUTY OF THE CHURCH. 




E have already seen how the United 
States, inheriting from ns their blood, 
their laws, their religion, and their 
schism, inherited also our English 
system of colonial slavery, and our 
original English opinions in regard to that system. 
Slavery continued, in fact, exactly as we left it, with 
such modifications only as circumstances rendered ne- 
cessary or expedient. Like other systems, it had ac- 
quired a life of its own ; and customs, laws, morals, and 
religious doctrines, had accommodated themselves to it, 
according to their respective degrees of pliability. At 

8 2 



26 o The Church and Slavery. 

the Eevolution, as we have observed, the -anion of the 
different colonies or States was essential to their success. 
But this union was practicable only on the condition 
that the local institutions of the several States should 
be left untouched. Accordingly the new Constitution, 
.recognising slavery, provided that the whole power of 
the government should be employed, if necessary, to 
defend it in case of aggression, and to prevent the 
escape of fugitives. Thus the bonds of black men 
were riveted that a high theory of political freedom 
for white men might be established. Not only was 
slavery perpetuated, but even the slave-trade, through 
the influence of Northern shipowners, was continued 
down to the year 1808. 

At the same time, the framers of the Constitution, 
aware of the inconsistency of slavery with the principles 
avowed in the Declaration of Independence, carefully 
avoided the word " slave," and introduced the circum- 
locution of iC person held to labour." Even the word 
" servitude " was struck out, and " service " substituted 
instead, as expressing rather the obligations of free 
persons than the condition of slaves.* Madison said, 
" It is wrong to admit into the Constitution the idea 
that there can be property in men." 

The leaders of the Eevolution seem to have believed 
that the principles of .liberty were so dear to the people 
that they would not long deny to others what they 
claimed for themselves. Southern men were foremost 



* Speech of Mr. Sumner in the Senate of the United States, June 4, 
1860. 



Slavery an admitted Evil. 261 

in speaking of slavery as an evil, and though some 
palliated it, and desired that its extinction might be 
gradual, none considered it as a permanent institution 
of the country. Washington wrote in 1786 : — "I never 
mean, unless some particular circumstances should 
compel me to it, to possess another slave by purchase, 
it being among my first wishes to see some plan 
adopted by which slavery in this country may be 
abolished by law." * By his last will, all Washington's 
slaves were made free. Similar sentiments to those of 
Washington were openly expressed by Jefferson, Madison, 
Monroe, Franklin, Adams, and many others. 

For half a century after the Eevolution, English and 
American slavery existed side by side in the West 
Indian Islands and on the neighbouring continent. 
But justice and religion began to raise their voice 
against the system, and, under certain circumstances, 
the voice was heard. Wherever the profits of slavery 
were the least, people most readily opened their eyes to 
its evils, and adopted measures for its abolition. In 
the northern New England States, where the climate 
and soil render slave-labour comparatively unprofitable, 
emancipation was complete before the commencement 
of the present century. New York, Ehode Island, and 
Connecticut soon followed their example. Proceeding 
further south, we find that in Pennsylvania and New 
Jersey abolition was delayed much longer. In Pennsyl- 
vania, according to Mr. Hall, there were nearly four 

* Helper, p. 193. 
S 3 



2,6 2 The Church and Slavery. 

thousand slaves in 1790, and six remained as late as 
1850. In New Jersey there were more than eleven 
thousand in 1790, and the last State Act for the aboli- 
tion of slavery was passed as recently as 1846. The 
work of emancipation by England did not commence 
until America had made considerable progress in the 
same direction. If the whole of our southern counties 
had been adapted by soil and climate to slave-labour, it 
is possible that to this hour philanthropy would have 
struggled in vain for the introduction of a more 
righteous system. Nor is it likely that the colonial 
legislatures of the West Indies would have themselves 
ventured upon the experiment of abolition. But our 
slave colonies were weak, and the population of England 
was strong; the will of the feeble consequently suc- 
cumbed to the determination of the powerful, and at 
a cost of twenty millions the negroes of the West Indies 
were advanced to the dignity of freemen. In America 
the case was very different. Abolition, having pro- 
ceeded as far south as the boundaries of Maryland and 
Virginia, was arrested in its course by its competition 
with a powerful slaveholding interest. Here it ap- 
proached the region of rice, cotton, and sugar, in which 
the compulsory servitude of men of African race was 
considered necessary to the development of the resources 
of the soil. Here the profits of slavery constantly aug- 
mented with the manufacturing prosperity of Man- 
chester. The slave States, instead of occupying the 
position of weak and distant colonies, possessed the ad- 
vantage of being integral portions of the American 



Compensation Impossible. 263 

Union, and were abundantly represented in the National 
Congress. Each State had its own legislature ; its insti- 
tutions were protected by the Constitution, and the 
question of servitude was beyond the jurisdiction of the 
Federal authorities. If these States desired to emanci- 
pate their slaves on the English plan of compensation to 
owners, whence should the amount be obtained ? Not 
twenty, but five hundred, millions of money * must be 
raised by the slave-owners to be paid to themselves. 
Hence it is a fact by no means surprising, however de- 
plorable, that slavery, although extinct in Barbados and 
Jamaica, maintains a vigorous existence in the broad 
expanses of the Southern States. 

That slavery is a great evil to the white population 
requires but little proof. President Jefferson, in his 
"Notes on Virginia," says: — "There must doubtless 
be an unhappy influence on the manners of our people 
produced by the existence of slavery among us. The 
whole commerce between master and slave is a per- 
petual exercise of the most boisterous passions — the 
most unremitting despotism on the one part, and 
degrading submission on the other. Our children see 
this and learn to imitate it ; for man is an imitative 
animal . . . The man must be a prodigy who can 
retain his manners and morals undepraved by such 
circumstances." 

President Monroe, in a speech to the Virginian Con- 

* In 1850 the entire value of the slaves in the United States was 
estimated at 1,280,000,000 dollars, or 256,000,000/. It is now reckoned 
at more than double this amount. 

s 4 



2 6 4 The Church and Slavery. 

vention, spoke of slavery in words which at the present 
time would be regarded as seditious: — "We have found 
that this evil has preyed upon the very vitals of the 
Union, and has been prejudicial to all the States in 
which it has existed." 

In 1837, the Governor of Kentucky, himself a slave- 
owner, said in his Message to the Legislature of the 
State: — "We long to see the day when the law will 
assert its majesty, and stop the wanton destruction of 
life which almost daily occurs within the jurisdiction of 
this commonwealth. Men slaughter each other with 
almost perfect impunity." In the same year another 
slave-owning governor in Alabama made a similar 
official declaration: — "We hear of homicides in dif- 
ferent parts of the State continually, and yet have few 
convictions, and still fewer executions. Why do we 
hear of stabbings and shootings almost daily in some 
part or other of our State ? " 

A few words in President Buchanan's Message of 
December, 1860, afford a sufficiently painful view of the 
alarms which beset Southern society. " Many a matron 
throughout the South retires at night in dread of what 
may befall herself or her children before the morning." 
The liberty of the "free-born republican " is curtailed by 
this institution to a degree hardly conceivable to a British 
subject. He may chastise his slaves at his discretion, 
but may not educate them, and may not emancipate them 
except on conditions which in many instances would ren- 
der emancipation a doubtful advantage. The press, the 
post-office, and the pulpit, are under fetters, and nothing 



Tyranny of the System, 26 



b 



can be printed, preached, or circulated, which the mass 
of the people regard as dangerous. Innumerable in- 
stances might be quoted to show the fearful tyranny of 
public opinion in the South. A white person, for 
example, was publicly flogged in the market-place for 
being in possession of abolitionist newspapers. A pro- 
fessor in a Southern university, who expressed opinions 
favourable to liberty, was peremptorily dismissed from 
his post, ignominiously subjected to the indignities of a 
mob, and then savagely driven beyond the borders of 
his native State.* From the South this species of 
tyranny has extended to those parts of the North which 
are connected with slavery by the ties of a common 
interest. Thus, in Illinois, a mob murdered a Presby- 
terian minister for printing a publication hostile to 
African servitude. In Boston an abolitionist who 
pleaded for the negro's rights was dragged through the 
streets with a halter about his neek.f The violent 
conduct and ferocious language of Southern members 
of Congress would alone be sufficient to prove that, 
even in the higher grades of society, slavery tends to 
barbarism. 

The whole tribe of overseers, slave-dealers, and slave- 
hunters, are placed in a position which, to say the least, 
is eminently unfavourable to the formation of a just, 
merciful, or Christian character. The moral and phy- 
sical energies of the young are not wholesomely de- 
veloped, and labour is regarded as something mean and 

* Helper, p. 306. f Speech of Mr. Sumner. 



2, 66 The Church and Slavery. 

despicable. Whether in a commercial or a mechanical, 
a financial or a literary point of view, the slave States 
are far behind those of the North. We are told on 
apparently good authority * that the annual hay crop 
of the free States is worth considerably more than all 
the cotton, rice, tobacco, hay, hemp, and sugar annually 
produced in the wide domains of slavery. 

As to the effect of slavery on the negro, it should be 
recollected that however low may be the condition of the 
black American, it is a considerable improvement on the 
state of his forefathers in Africa. Of the hundred and 
fifty millions supposed to inhabit f that unhappy con- 
tinent, three-fourths have been slaves from time imme- 
morial, the slaves, too, of heathen and Mohammedan 
masters, treated like herds of cattle and constantly liable 
to be sold to foreign countries. True, their slavery has 
been in many respects far from severe, and has not been 
aggravated by difference of colour. But it has been 
accompanied with fearful barbarities, with the terrors 
of witchcraft, and with all the abominations of the 
worst forms of heathenism. The negro in America is 
not to be regarded, nor does he regard himself, as 
lowered beneath a former level. The hopes of Chris- 
tianity are accessible to him, and he is capable of 
feeling the motives of the Gospel. His bodily com- 
forts are generally sufficiently provided for, and, if 
we were to judge him by appearances, we might say 
that he was one of the most light-hearted and cheerful 

* Helper's Impending Crisis. 
f Quarterly Review, April, 1861. 



Degradation of the Negro. z6j 

of mortals. If an outdoor labourer, he is often allowed 
an allotment of land, on which, after the regular hours 
of labour, he may work on his own account, like many 
of our English peasantry. If a domestic servant, he 
may expect, on the whole, to be well treated, in return 
for which he will probably show faithful attachment to 
his master's family. 

Irresponsible power is, of course, a dangerous posses- 
sion, and the man must be more than mortal who is 
not in danger of abusing such an endowment. Con- 
sidering all that has been written on the subject by 
credible witnesses, it is unnecessary to adduce proofs 
that negroes are often treated in a manner which 
evinces a want of common sense and humanity. In 
America, slavery has always worn a character more 
severe, in some respects, than ancient servitude. In 
the countries mentioned in Scripture, compulsory servi- 
tude was usually the result of successful war, and the 
captive was not only of the same colour with his master, 
but was often his superior in birth and education. 
Hence slavery was not associated with entire degra- 
dation. The slave was often treated as a son or a brother, 
he might be admitted into his master's family by 
marriage, and was sometimes advanced to the highest 
offices of the State. But the negro was brought to 
America, and to our colonies in general, solely with a 
view to commercial profit, and mainly with that view 
has he continued to be employed to the present day. 
Hence his owner regards him, by a traditionary esti- 
mate, according to his material worth, and is constantly 



268 The Church and Slavery, 

under the temptation of forgetting that the slave, 
equally with himself, is a main. Let not those who are 
placed under this temptation be regarded as necessarily 
more blind or unfeeling than others. It is not so easy 
as it may seem to rise above the general standard of 
public opinion, and to become superior to the esta- 
blished mode of considering the great social questions of 
our age and country. 

The evils of slavery are not to be estimated princi- 
pally by the bodily sufferings which grow out of the 
system. Its crying iniquity is that it tends to per- 
petuate a mental and moral degradation incompatible 
with the interests of humanity. It makes ignorance a 
necessity, it too frequently denies to the negro the 
sacred ties and purifying influences of marriage and 
family, and it utterly disarranges the natural relations 
between parents and their offspring. The negro, like 
his master, is generally the creature of surrounding 
circumstances, and seldom rises above the standard of 
morals resulting from his position. It might indeed 
have been anticipated that he would be prone to 
sensuality and licentiousness, vain, trifling, and dis- 
honest, skilful in the arts of deceit and subterfuge, 
cowardly, cruel, revengeful, and superstitious. These 
ordinary vices of slavery have indeed grown up abun- 
dantly in the South, though happier influences, espe- 
cially those of religion, have often been interposed with 
success to check their luxuriant growth. 

In the South, the believers in Holy Scripture defend 
the principle of slavery by considerations like the fol- 



The Bible and Slavery. 2,6 g 

lowing, abridged from a work by a respectable Presby- 
terian minister of Georgia, the Rev. J. C. Stiles.* 

" Not one word of censure is pronounced in the Bible 
upon slavery, though the relation of master and servant 
is brought up frequently, and discussed abundantly, in 
both Testaments. 

"In the covenant with Abraham, in the Ten Com- 
mandments, and in the Grospel, slavery is contemplated 
as an existing state of society, and though regulations 
are laid down in regard to it, nothing is expressed 
against its legality. He whom Grod selected as the 
father of the faithful was a great slave-owner. He whom 
Grod pronounced the best man on earth, the pattern of 
human patience, was the proprietor of many slaves. He 
whom our Lord declared to have greater faith than any 
in Israel was made known to Him only through his 
ownership of a slave, and described himself as a man 
under authority, saying to his slave, 'Do this, and he 
doeth it.' The only slave reported by the New Testa- 
ment as a fugitive from his master's service, was re- 
stored to his owner by an Apostle." 

" In Leviticus (xxv.) Grod directed the Jews, at a time 
when they were not slaveholders, concerning the manner 
in which they should afterwards form the relation of 
master and servant. It is argued that Grod could not 
direct His creature in the formation of a relation sinful 
in itself. So, in the slave-laws of Moses, the Jews are 
directed what to do when they should become owners 

* Modern Eeform Examined, p. 21. 



2, jo The Church and Slavery. 

of slaves. ' Ye shall buy bondmen.' ( They shall be 
your possession.' e He is his money.' e Ye shall take 
them as an inheritance for your children after you.' 
'They shall be your bondmen for ever.' There is a 
recognition in both Testaments of the owner's claim to 
control, correction, service, honour, and love, and an 
explicit statement of the duties of masters to their 
slaves, and of slaves to their masters." 

The question is often asked whether the American 
Church is not peculiarly implicated in the evils of 
slavery. To this it must be replied that the word 
" Church," as used in American books, includes every 
sect which chooses to be considered Christian. When, 
therefore, the writer of a lately popular fiction ac- 
cused the ie Church " of participating in the guilt 
of slavery, she must be understood as accusing Pres- 
byterians, Methodists, Baptists, Independents, and 
Unitarians equally with that class of Christians who, 
according to the more correct use of language, are 
known in England as " the Church." Probably church- 
men do not own a sixth part of the number of the slaves 
belonging to Baptist proprietors.* The entire white 



* The following extract from the " Montgomery Mail," a newspaper 
printed at the present capital of the Southern Confederacy, shows the 
feelings of a slaveholding Baptist towards a Baptist abolitionist : — 

" Last Saturday we devoted to the flames a large number of copies of 
Spurgeon's Sermons, which a Baptist friend presented for the purpose. 
We trust that the works of the greasy cockney vociferator may receive 
the same treatment throughout the South. And if the pharisaical 
author should ever show himself in these parts, we trust that a stout 
cord may speedily find its way around his eloquent throat. He has 



Lawfulness of Slavery. 



7 



population of the slaveholding States, by the Census of 
1860, was about 12,210,000, including 3,952,801 slaves. 
Among this great population, the Church numbers 
about fifty thousand communicants, and less than half 
a million of worshippers, with fifteen bishops, and 
perhaps seven hundred clergymen. It is very plain, 
therefore, that in the South, as well as in the North, 
the Church is greatly overshadowed by other religious 
bodies. 

Still, however, it may be said that fifteen bishops and 
seven hundred clergymen might exert a considerable 
influence by lifting up a united voice against surround- 
ing evils. How then does the American Church habi- 
tually treat the subject of slavery? 

It must be replied that, like the Mother Church in 
England, and like other branches of the Catholic Church, 
the American Church has never by any public act 
denied the lawfulness of slavery in the abstract. On 
the other hand, her general belief on the subject may 
be expressed in the words of many of our English divines. 

Archbishop Manners Sutton* says, " Christianity hath 
left all temporal governments as it found them, without 
impeachment of any form or description whatever." 
So Paley says: "Christianity can only operate as an 
alterative. By the mild diffusion of its light and 
influence, the minds of men are insensibly prepared to 
perceive and correct the enormities which folly or 

proved himself a dirty, low-bred slanderer, and ought to be treated 
accordingly." 

* Quoted in the " Christian Eemembrancer " for October, 1832. 



2J2, The Church and Slavery. 

wickedness or accident has introduced into their public 
establishments." 

The Bishop of Lincoln, in a sermon preached before 
the Society for Propagating the Gospel in 1768, spoke 
as follows : — " Though the dealing in men seems a very 
unnatural kind of traffic, and any treatment of them 
contrary to the allowed and unalterable rights of 
humanity cannot plainly be justified, yet I know not 
that we are warranted by any precept delivered in the 
Gospel, or by any example recorded in the Apostolic 
writings, to say that this practice is expressly forbidden 
there ; for the founder of our religion did not make or 
propose to make any change in the different constitu- 
tions of government, or in the personal condition and 
privileges of private men." 

The bishops and clergy in the South are probably 
not inferior in Christian character to any clergy in 
Christendom. In becoming ministers of religion they 
have sacrificed the worldly advantages which America 
presents so freely to the enterprising in other lines of 
life. Some respect, therefore, is due to their opinion 
in regard to the proper course of the Christian ministry 
in a slaveholding country. I believe it may be stated, 
without hesitation, that they consider themselves bound 
to avoid all direct attacks upon the principle of slavery, 
and to confine themselves to the general inculcation of 
Christian truth and duty. The services of the Church, 
the Sacraments and other holy ordinances, with the 
stated preaching of the Gospel, cannot be without their 
effect in rendering masters kind and gentle, and in 



Churchmen of Carolina. 273 

supplying hope and consolation to the slave. There is 
reason to believe that Church-people in the South have 
done much to convey Christian instruction to the 
negroes, and to mitigate evils which cannot altogether 
be avoided. 

The following account of a single diocese may, 
perhaps, be regarded as a sample of some others.* South 
Carolina is the leading State of the pro-slavery region. 
The blacks there are rather more numerous than the 
whites, and abolitionist doctrines are generally held in 
utter abhorrence. In the year 1857, in that diocese, 
with considerably less than a hundred white congrega- 
tions, there were already forty-five churches and chapels 
built on plantations for the slaves, and about a hundred 
and fifty organised congregations in which the Grospel 
was preached to them by the clergy. The number of 
persons conformed among them was nearly three times 
as great as among the whites. The bishop visits these 
black congregations as regularly as the others, and takes 
especial pleasure in the work. And in regard to the 
subject of marriage among the slaves, the Diocesan 
Convention, composed largely of slaveholders, appointed 
a committee on the subject which reported as follows, 
in 1859: — 

" Eesolved : That the relation of husband and wife is 
of divine institution, and the duties which appertain to 
it are of universal obligation, and bind with the same 
force the master and the slave. 

u . Eesolved: That the injunction of our Saviour for- 

* See New York Church Journal, 1861, p. 53. 
T 



2 74 The Church and Slavery. 

bidding man to separate those whom Grod has joined 
together, is obligatory upon the conscience of every 
Christian master, and prohibits the separation of those 
who have been united in marriage. 

66 Eesolved : That the power over the slave which is 
conferred upon the master by the law of the land, 
should be exercised by every Christian in conformity 
with the law of God; and, therefore, every Christian 
master should so regulate the sale or disposal of a 
married slave as not to infringe the divine injunction 
forbidding the separation of man and wife." 

In this connection it may be stated that in the year 
1860, though, as I have stated, the white population is 
little less than the black, there were in South Carolina 
twice as many marriages celebrated by the clergy of the 
Church among the slaves as among the whites ; and 
every care is taken by conscientious Christian men that 
such marriages shall be considered sacred. Besides the 
bishops and clergy, thousands of communicants are 
labouring among the slaves, not indeed teaching them 
to read, but giving them oral instructions in Holy Scrip- 
ture, in the liturgy, in the catechism, in psalms and 
hymns, in chanting, and in a decent mode of congrega- 
tional worship.* 

* The following 13 one of the parochial reports delivered to the Dio- 
cesan Convention of South Carolina in 1857 : — 

"Alt, Saints, Waccamaw. 

The Rev. Alexander Glennie, Hector. The Rev. Lucien C. Lance, 

Assistant Minister. The Rev. Henry L.Phillips, Missionary. 

Baptisms : adults, 1 white, 38 coloured ; children, 3 white, 99 

coloured; total, 141. Marriages: 2 white, 8 coloured; total, 10, 



The Bishop of Louisiana. 275 

All these labours would speedily be brought to a close 
if the bishops and clergy were to commence an attack 
upon slavery as a political institution. They would 
encounter a persecution incomparably more severe than 
that which fell upon the loyalist clergy at the Revolu- 
tion, and at the same time the slaves would be deprived 
of those who at present are among their best friends. 

The Bishop of Louisiana assured the writer, in 1853, 
that while engaged on an episcopal tour he had visited 
the country on Eed River, the scene of the fictitious 
sufferings of " Uncle Tom," where he had found the 
temporal and spiritual welfare of negroes an object of 
solicitude with the proprietors. He had confirmed 
thirty black persons near the situation assigned to 
Legree's estate. He was himself the owner of four 
hundred slaves, whom he endeavoured to bring up as 
Church people. He baptized the children, and taught 
them the catechism. All, without exception, attended 

Burials : 2 white, 4 coloured ; total, 6. Communicants, last reported : 
47 white, 173 coloured; total, 220. Admitted: 2 white, 38 coloured; 
total, 40. Bemoved : 5 white, 1 coloured ; total, 6. "Withdrew : 7 
coloured ; died, 1 white, 8 coloured ; total, 9. Present number : 43 
white, 195 coloured; total, 238. Congregations, Non-communicants: 
30 white ; children under 14, 35 white ; families, 26 white ; families 
belonging also to other congregations of P. E. Church: 4 white. 
Children catechised on 20 days, 10 white; on 307 days, 495 coloured; 
total 505. Confirmed by the bishop, 78 coloured. Public worship^ 
parish church, 27 Sundays, 11 other days; Southern Church, 21 Sun- 
days, 2 other days; Summerset's, 11 Sundays; for negroes on 15 
plantations, and at Summerset's, 300 times ; whole number of times, 
372. Contributions: Communion alms, 114 dols. 35 c. ; Missions: dio- 
cesan, 55 dols. ; domestic, 234 dols. 39 c. ; foreign, 290 dols. ; other pur- 
poses, 405 dols. ; total, 1098 dob. 74 c." = J219. 

T 2 



2, J 6 The Church and Slavery. 

the Church, and the chanting and singing were credit- 
ably performed by them. Ninety of the whole number 
were communicants, marriages were celebrated according 
to the ritual, and the state of morals was not unsatis- 
factory. Emancipation in Louisiana was rendered by 
law all but impracticable, and the Bishop's slaves would 
have regarded it as a fearful calamity, expatriation being 
one of its necessary conditions. 

The present Bishop of the diocese of Virginia eman- 
cipated his slaves on condition of their removal to the 
free colony of Liberia in Western Africa, thereby sacri- 
ficing property to the amount of some thousands, and 
rendering himself comparatively a poor man in an 
unendowed church. A clergyman in Virginia, known 
to the writer, at one time possessed a handsome pro- 
perty in the shape of black men and women. From a 
sense of Christian duty he emancipated them all, doing 
to them as he considered that he would wish others to 
do to himself if he were in the same circumstances. 
For some time he continued poor and dependent on 
the contributions of a country parish. At the same 
time his emancipated negroes became wretched vaga- 
bonds, and often came to him for relief as common 
beggars. Ultimately, by marriage, he again acquired a 
considerable slave property, but profiting by experience 
he granted no second emancipation, and confined him- 
self to the promotion of the temporal and spiritual 
welfare of his people, and to a provision by will de- 
signed to secure their comfort in the event of his 
decease. It is a fact worthy of notice that one of the 



The Presbyterian Pulpit. 2, J J 

most earnest and eloquent opponents of abolition in the 
South is a clergyman of the Church of England (once a 
member of the University of Oxford), who as rector of 
a parish in Jamaica witnessed the results of emancipa- 
tion in that once prosperous island. 

Dr. Palmer, an eminent Presbyterian minister of New 
Orleans, preached a sermon in November last, from 
which the following is an extract : — 

* The worst foes of the black race are those who 
have intermeddled in their behalf. We know better 
than others that every attribute of their character fits 
them for servitude. By nature the most affectionate 
and loyal of all races beneath the sun, they are also the 
most helpless ; and no calamity can befall them greater 
than the loss of that protection they enjoy under the 
patriarchal system. Indeed the experiment has been 
grandly tried of precipitating them upon freedom, 
which they knew not how to enjoy; and the dismal 
results are before us in statistics that astonish the world. 
With the fairest portions of the earth in their possession, 
and with the advantage of a long discipline as cultivators 
of the soil, their constitutional indolence has converted 
the most beautiful island of the sea into a howling 
waste. It is not too much to say that if the South 
should, at this moment, surrender every slave, the 
wisdom of the entire world, united in solemn council, 
could not solve the question of their disposal. Their 
transportation to Africa, even if it were feasible, would 
be the most refined cruelty; they must perish with 
starvation before they could have time to relapse into 

T S 



2j8 The Church and Slavery. 

their primitive barbarism. Their residence here, in the 
presence of the vigorous Saxon race, would be but the 
signal for their rapid extermination before they had 
time to waste away through listlessness, filth, and vice. 
Freedom would be their doom ; and from it they call 
upon us, their providential guardians, to be protected." 
It has escaped the notice of many opponents of 
slavery in this country, that American abolitionism is 
closely connected with utter infidelity. Because the 
Old and New Testament recognise the existence of 
slavery, and give rules for the respective conduct of 
masters and slaves, many of the more fanatical aboli- 
tionists have rejected the Scriptures as a revelation from 
God. I find the following statements in a sermon 
preached before a highly respectable Presbyterian con- 
gregation in the State of New York, in December, 
I860*: — "In this country all the prominent leaders 
of abolitionism (outside of the ministry) have become 
avowed infidels f ; and all our notorious abolition 

* The Character and Influence of Abolitionism, by the Eev. 
Henry J. Van Dyke. 

f Innumerable proofs of the infidelity of abolitionism might be 
readily produced. The following, quoted by Mr. Stiles, are a few 
specimens of the speeches and writings of leading abolitionists : — 

"Shame on the nation, and shame on its politics, and shame on its 
religion, I say, and shame on such a God. I defy Him, I scorn Him ; 
He is not my God." "If the Bible sanctions slavery, and is thus 
opposed to the self-evident truth that ' all men are created equal, and 
have an inalienable right to iiberty,' the Bible is a self-evident false- 
hood." " An ti- Slavery will triumph, but only on the ruins of the 
American Church. Humanity will surely come off victorious over what 
this nation calls God, and hurl Him for ever from His throne of blood, 
simply because that God has staked His claim to our worship on the 
support of slavery." 



Southern Religion. zjg 

preachers have renounced the great doctrines of grace 
as they are taught in the standards of the "reformed 
churches." 

On the other hand, we have the following testimony 
in regard to Southern religion from Mr. Stiles * : — 
" There is a defect in the religion of the North. The 
Northern mind is inquiring and inquisitive. Conse- 
quently you will find in the North more speculation and 
abstraction in the pulpit ; and more new lights, heresies, 
and infidelity among the people. The Southern popu- 
lation brought less intelligence and religion with them, 
and very naturally an inferior appreciation of literary 
and religious institutions. They settled, too, in a por- 
tion of the country where neither the climate nor the 
soil admitted of an uniformly dense population, and 
adopted a method of life which threw society apart. 
Consequently the Southern Church is decidedly inferior 
to the Northern, not only in religious and auxiliary 
institutions, but also in general Christian knowledge 
and efficient Christian training. Yet the people of the 
South possess one superiority over the North. If they 
have less investigation, they have more faith. There is 
yet a confiding simplicity, an unreasoning reverence, in 
the structure and habits of the Southern mind ; a 
willingness to hear anything from Grod, which will be 
found to embody much veneration for the Scriptures 
and the ministry, and certainly a great freedom from 
vagaries, heresy, and infidelity." Then follows some 

* Modern Keforin Examined. 
T 4 



280 The Church and Slavery. 

curious statistical information, from which it would 
appear that in the five years ending with 1854, the 
sermons preached by Episcopalians, Presbyterians, 
Methodists, and Baptists in the free States amounted 
in length to 33,246 years, and in the slave States to 
only 24,918 years. Yet the thirty-three thousand years 
of preaching in the North had been the means of 
bringing only 164,553 persons to bind themselves by a 
religious profession, while the twenty-four thousand 
years of sermonising in the South had produced the 
same happy effect on 214,918. In other words, "a 
Christian force in the South one-fourth less, works a 
Christian result one-fourth greater than in the North." 
" The Southern States," says the same author, (i have 
been compelled to pass laws forbidding emancipation 
in order to discourage that sympathy of the master 
which would otherwise inordinately augment, in the 
bosom of Southern society, a shiftless and wretched 
population. The border States, Maryland, Virginia, 
Kentucky, and Missouri, have seen the day when the 
whole population have been brought very near to a pro- 
clamation of liberty to all the captives within their 
bounds. The South is supposed to have freed nearly 
three hundred thousand slaves. If we value them 
singly at five hundred dollars, we are authorised to 
affirm that the South has substantially surrendered 
the sum of one hundred and fifty millions of dollars 
(30,000,000^.) in testimony of its sympathy with the 
freedom of the race." The reader will observe that 
this sum (whether rightly estimated or not) is one- 



Antipathy to Negro Blood. 281 

half greater than the whole cost of our West Indian 
emancipation. Whatever may be the philanthropy 
of individual slave-owners, the national prejudice of 
America in regard to African descent must be in some 
way surmounted before the negro race can be mate- 
rially advanced in the social scale. Even in the 
Northern States the free negro enjoys little more than 
the name of freedom. In some of them he is forbidden 
to remain, and, if he persevere in doing so, he may be 
fined, imprisoned, and eventually sold again into slavery. 
The white people, even though politically they may be 
abolitionists, loathe fellowship with the blacks and 
mulattoes, and exclude them from the more elevating 
and profitable employments. Their colour and descent 
render them objects of an unreasoning antipathy, and 
in the large towns and cities they have sometimes be- 
come the victims of popular fury. 

Amidst the difficulties of the subject, a few points 
must now be tolerably clear. It is very evident that 
whatever may have been the intention of the Eevolu- 
tionary Fathers, negro slavery, with many superadded 
evils, has in fact found a stronghold in the Constitution 
of the United States. It has constantly brought into 
political affairs increased confusion and entanglement, 
it has led to costly and demoralising wars, and it is now 
rending the Union to pieces. It is the fruitful parent 
of Lynch-law and other tyrannies, it is the cause of 
constant alarm to slave-owners themselves, it has kept 
the Southern States in a condition of inferiority to 
the North, it has become the shame and reproach of 



2, 8 2 The Church and Slavery. 

America in the eyes of the civilised world. Though, 
according to the letter of the Old Testament, a certain 
form of slavery, at a certain age of the world, was evi- 
dently permitted, and though our Saviour and His 
Apostles did not interfere with the existing structure 
of society, yet the spirit of the Grospel, and the general 
instincts of Christian nations, seem opposed to a system 
which necessitates ignorance, breaks up family ties, 
and leads, by almost inevitable consequence, to injustice, 
cruelty, and many other abominations. 

It does not, however, appear certain that immediate 
abolition would be a benefit to the negro, and, on the 
contrary, it might be a terrible calamity to him. It is 
plain, too, that so long as commerce renders the culti- 
vation of cotton eminently profitable, and so long as the 
Southern States continue to regard the labour of slaves 
as necessary to their crops, abolition without compen- 
sation is most improbable. Compensation, we have 
seen, is utterly out of the question. Although, there- 
fore, much may be done by legislatures, associations, 
and individuals, to mitigate the evils of slavery, the 
overthrow of the entire system, unless by some fearful 
catastrophe, is not yet to be expected. 

The American Church, under these circumstances, 
seems manifestly released from the obligation of preach- 
ing abolition at all hazards. Yet Christendom has 
reason to expect from her that in all matters connected 
with slavery involving questions of right and wrong, 
she should lift up her voice without fear, trusting that 
Grod will increase her influence with men in proportion 



Duty of the Church. 283 

as she does her duty. We have seen that she has 
exerted herself to good purpose in South Carolina. 
Testimony to a similar effect from Virginia and some 
other States would be a source of joy to all who wish 
her well. Perhaps some future chronicler of American 
affairs will record that the Church in the South, repre- 
sented by her clergy and laity, has determined to put 
forth a general effort to raise American slavery in all 
respects to the standard of Holy Scripture. There will 
be additional cause for gratitude if it should appear that 
the Church in the North has set herself against the 
secondary slavery of the free negro, and that she has 
exerted herself to remove from the minds of her children 
that antipathy to African lineage which is the source of 
so much misery and degradation. 



284 



Conclusion, 



CHAP. XII. 

CONCLUSION. 

our early opportunities in america. partial failure of the 

designs of washington. the bishop of vermont on the con- 
servative influence of the church. improbability of a per- 
manent re-union of all the states. advantages of separation. 

— jefferson's ideas of the divine justice. — American opinions of 

england and the church of england. reaction in favour of 

the church anticipated. possible alternative. prospects of 

america and of the transatlantic church. 




HE preceding chapters have laid before 
the reader the gradual progress of the 
events which have made the United 
States what they are at present. In 
becoming possessed of North America, 
opportunities were placed in our hands greater than we 
have ever enjoyed in any portion of the world, not even 
excepting British India. Had we also possessed a 
wisdom rather divine than human, had we been united 
in our views of religious and political truth, had we 
understood precisely when to govern and when to let 
things take their natural course, we might have built 
up a community which would have been the wonder 
and admiration of the universe. From our various 



What might have been. 285 

spheres of life, we should have sent forth a homogeneous 
population to the North and to the South ; we should 
have carefully avoided the causes of religious dissension ; 
we should have refused to allow society to be contami- 
nated at its sources by the admixture of criminals and 
fugitives ; and, above all, we should have been careful 
to exclude African bondage. Considering the mate- 
rialising influences of a new country, and the loss of 
many a holy association when the emigrant removes 
far away from the church-bells of his native place, we 
should have made our religion co-extensive with our 
dominion. The mild and truthful, yet definite system 
of Christianity which commended itself to our fathers, 
would have been set up in its integrity from Maine to 
Georgia, and a sufficient number of well-trained and 
active pastors would have watched over the people under 
the superintendence of earnest and devoted bishops. 
The wishes and feelings of the colonists would have 
been respected, the Americans would have been 
treated as our equals, and their love to the mother- 
country would have met with a hearty return. Innu- 
merable bonds would have maintained the union be- 
tween England and her colonies, and when a separation 
of governments became a mutual convenience, the event 
would have taken place without the rupture of kindly 
feeling, or detriment to the moral and material interests 
of either party. The system of the Church of England, 
amended in its details, and adapted to a more expanded 
sphere, would be at this time the religion of more than 
thirty millions of people. The government of America, 



2 86 Conclusion, 



probably under a monarchy like our own, would be 
sustained by a population educated in the fear and 
knowledge of Grod. The authority of the parent, the 
master, and the magistrate, would be supported, together 
with that of the sovereign. The best talent and the 
highest principle of the nation would always be available 
for the service of the State, and the double tyranny 
of slavery and of the mob would be unknown. The 
present causes of disunion would not exist, and, from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific, abundant scope would be afforded 
for the energies of a free, united, and loyal people. 

But nations, like individuals, are short-sighted, and 
our own conduct in reference to America was in some 
respects far from provident. Accordingly sectional 
antipathies arose, religious unity ceased to be valued, 
truth and error were confounded, and the Christian edu- 
cation of the people became more and more enveloped 
with difficulties. Democracy grew up and flourished 
by the side of slavery. A revolutionary war gave in- 
tensity to evils already existing, and almost extinguished 
the feeble light which was beginning to shine from the 
Church. Under these circumstances the public and 
private character of the Americans was formed. If in 
that character we perceive any unpleasant features, let 
us, in all justice, trace them to their origin. 

It is evident that the expectations of the founders of 
the Eepublic have in many respects failed of accomplish- 
ment. Washington would utterly disavow principles 
which are now openly maintained by leading politicians. 
It is not impossible that present troubles may lead to a 



Obedience a Necessity. 28 J 

higher appreciation of the conservative wisdom of the 
first President. Some will go farther and will be- 
gin to think that sound philosophy, as well as prac- 
tical utility, are involved in monarchical principles. 
Many will learn by experience that although liberty is 
good, law is better, and that, in the West no less than 
in the East, government and obedience are necessary to 
the happiness of nations. 

If from the troubled State we turn to contemplate 
the comparatively peaceful and harmonious Church, we 
see much which is calculated to excite our thankfulness 
and our admiration. We cannot but think highly of 
the perseverance with which, in the old colonial times, 
Churchmen prayed for an episcopate, and of the devo- 
tion with which so many Americans sought ordination 
in England when peculiar dangers attended such an 
expedition. The rapid progress of the Church from a 
state of ruin to comparative prosperity is a fact replete 
with encouragement. We feel too that American 
Churchmen are indeed our brethren, and we gladly re- 
ciprocate the kind sympathies which they entertain for 
us. We see in their " Protestant Episcopacy " a system 
which more than all others is calculated to check that 
tendency to extremes which spoils so much that is good 
among our transatlantic kindred. We believe that the 
time is at hand when Americans will discover in the 
Church a natural ally of concord and moderation, and 
a foe to fanaticism and disorder. We agree with the 
eloquent Bishop of Vermont, who says : — 

" I claim an unspeakable value for the influence of 



288 Conclusion. 



the Church on the union of the nation. For there is 
no other religious body which is perfectly free from the 
perilous hostility between North and South, and which, 
from the happy structure of her constitution, can never 
be drawn aside to any political or sectional issue. 
There is no other so thoroughly trained to reverence 
the authority of law and order. There is no other 
which is so secure from the spirit of dangerous excite- 
ment. There is no other so thoroughly imbued with 
the love of unity, harmony, and peace." 

The union of many States, if not of the whole, may 
long continue ; the States which have now seceded may 
possibly return for a time to the original union ; but a 
final and permanent separation of the South and North 
is far within the limits of probability. If united again, 
whether by conquest or consent, the same causes of con- 
tention will exist as before. The North will never be 
silent on the subject of slavery, and a power stronger than 
law, the will of a multitude which knows no master, will 
continue to prevent the arrest of negro fugitives. The 
evils of separation will however be balanced by certain 
advantages. The North will be set free from many 
entanglements, and will press forward with increased 
activity in the path of material prosperity. The South 
will quickly work out in her own way the difficult 
problems connected with slavery, unchecked by any 
political hostility in the Congress of Washington. It is 
not utterly impossible that the Southern Legislatures 
may find it expedient, under their new circumstances, to 
adopt conciliatory measures towards the blacks, and to 



Eventual Freedom, 289 

commence preparations for changing the slave to a serf, 
and the serf eventually to a peasant. But if insane views 
of the excellence and blessedness of the present system 
should prevail, and especially if aggressions on Mexico, 
Cuba, and other countries should be undertaken by 
Southern armies, the moral and economical evils of 
slavery may soonprove fatal to the society which, by its 
own profession, isfounded upon it.* Jefferson, though a 
Deist and a slave-owner, said in his "Notes on Virginia :" 
— "I tremble for my country when I reflect that Grod is 
just ; that His justice cannot sleep for ever; that an ex- 
change of situations is among possible events ; that it 
may become probable by supernatural interference. The 
Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us 
in such a contest." And again : — " We must wait with 
patience the workings of an overruling Providence, and 
hope that it is preparing the deliverance of these our 
brethren. When the measure of their tears shall be 
full, when their groans shall have involved heaven 
itself in darkness, doubtless a Grod of justice will awaken 
to their distress. Nothing is more certainly written in 
the book of Fate than that this people shall be free" f 
Our present colonies in Australia, Africa, and America 
have in many instances been led by circumstances to 
follow the example of the United States. Eeligious 

* Mr. Stephens, Vice-President of the Southern Confederacy, said, in 
a speech delivered at Savannah, March 21, 1861 : — " The corner-stone 
of our new government rests upon the great truth that. the negro is not 
equal to the white man, and that slavery is his natural and normal 
condition." 

f Quoted by Helper, pp. 196, 198. 

U 



290 Conclusion. 



divisions have exercised their baneful influence on edu- 
cation, and on the Legislatures ; in some cases democracy- 
has become the main principle of political action ; and 
the press only too faithfully copies the American 
example. But happily as yet their cities and towns 
have been free from the mischiefs arising from uni- 
versal suffrage, and long may the colonies be preserved 
from the peculiar eloquence of the 4th of July, and 
the innumerable evils resulting from a revolutionary 
war ! Through the exertions of the friends of religion 
at home, they have been supplied with bishops whose 
character and labours entitle them to a high rank among 
the chief pastors of Christendom. In no respect have 
they justified the terrors formerly felt by American 
dissenters, who believed that a colonial bishop must 
necessarily be a spiritual tyrant. On the contrary, by 
their self-denial, their charity, their active exertions, 
and often by their administrative skill, they have done 
much to give the Anglican Episcopate a higher place in 
general esteem and regard than it previously occupied. 
With the increase of bishops, the colonial clergy have 
also been augmented in number and in character, and 
the sad ecclesiastical history of Virginia is not likely to 
be repeated. 

In regard to the mother-church in England itself, 
the following words of an American clergyman, a con- 
vert from Presbyterianism, may be read with interest 
and profit* : — 

* The late Eev. C. C. Colton, late Professor in Trinity College, Hart- 
ford, Connecticut, in his " G-enius. and Mission of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church," p. 127, &c. 



A Convert' 's Views. 291 

ec Under all her disadvantages, and for the very 
reason of them, the Church of England has acquitted 
herself in a manner which will enforce respect, if not 
admiration. Not to speak of the extension of the 
Church over the colonial portions of the British empire, 
which has been on a grand scale and with signal success, 
there has been a revival of a marked vitality and effi- 
ciency in her domestic operations. The multiplication 
of churches has been going on for many years, and is 
still in progress with increasing demand for church 
room. There has been a simultaneous growth of the 
zeal and efficient action of the bishops and clergy. 
They have, at least in a measure, kept pace with the 
spirit of the age, as well for internal reform as for the 
enlargement of the Church. One of the chief objects 
of the restoration of the power of Convocation is the 
revival of discipline. 

" The British government has been educated in the 
Church ; it has ever been regarded as a part of the 
Church, and is so by the constitution of the empire. 
For a long period, especially of late years, there has been 
manifested by the government an apparent conscien- 
tiousness in the discharge of its high duties, as imposed 
by the constitution, towards the Church. The appoint- 
ment of bishops and archbishops has apparently been 
judicious, and all other functions of government in 
church affairs seem now to be discharged with a view 
to make the Church most efficient in promoting the 
cause of religion and Christianity at home and abroad. 
We are not aware that any impeachment of the fidelity 

u 2 



2,g 2, Conclusion, 



of the British government, in this respect, would fairly 
lie. It would seem as if the revival of Christian piety 
and zeal in the Church of England, of late years, may 
in no small degree be attributable to this influence of 
Government, directly and indirectly. The Church of 
England has greatly prospered under this regime, and 
is still going on to prosper. Never since the Kefor- 
mation has she done so well. There is not, perhaps, a 
church in the world which, during the same or an equal 
period, has improved so much in her general economy, 
in spiritual vigour, and in efficiency. She came out 
from the Church of Eome, under Henry VIII., as a 
fragment of that body, with a redeeming leaven of Pro- 
testantism in her bosom. During the subsequent brief 
interval of Papal power in England, under Mary, the 
martyr blood of her prelates and laymen was freely 
poured out for the Protestant faith. The universities 
of England have for ages sent forth the most accom- 
plished men of all history, to adorn, instruct, and edify 
the Church, and to leave a vast body of literature behind 
them, in the various walks of Christian learning, which 
can never be excelled, and which will constitute stan- 
dards of good taste and Christian piety while taste and 
piety are held precious in the earth. The zeal of the 
Church of England for promoting the interests of a true 
Christianity at home and abroad, and her means of 
moral power for this object, are constantly being 
augmented, and she exhibits the front, bearing, and 
discipline of a Christian host, of no uncertain promise 



Impressions of ILngland. 293 

for enacting a prominent part in evangelising the 
world. 

" It will be found in all countries where Christianity- 
has been introduced, that the polities of the Churches 
planted have, for the most part, been organised and 
shaped in adaptation to the institutions and genius 
of the people who are to be acted upon by them, and 
that they naturally acquire that form. So the polity 
of the Church of England has grown out of the insti- 
tutions of the country, and is necessarily adapted to 
the genius of the people. As the latter has changed, 
the former in its practical operation has been accommo- 
dated to it. Such modifications are slow, but as un- 
avoidable as they are expedient. The Church of Eng- 
land is not the same thing now that she was three 
centuries or two centuries or even fifty years ago ; and 
what is pleasant to observe, she has been constantly 
improving. She has wisely adapted herself to the times 
in the practical operation of her machinery." 

The above extract represents the general opinion of 
well-informed American Churchmen in regard to the ec- 
clesiastical institutions of England. Their view of our 
political constitution is for the most part equally favour- 
able, and many of them look with alarm on the attempts 
which are made, from time to time, to disturb the exist- 
ing balance of the great powers of the nation. In our 
fixed attachment to our sovereign they see a principle 
of order which they desire may never be shaken. As to 
our elective franchise they regard its further extension as 
an experiment of the most dangerous character. Under- 

u 3 



294 Conclusion. 

standing as they do. the practical working of universal 
suffrage and vote by ballot, they smile at the simplicity 
of those Englishmen who consider that our liberties 
would be increased by our imitation of these institu- 
tions of republican America. 

If, on the one hand, the condition of the United 
States affords no encouragement to the expansion of the 
democratic element in our constitution, it is equalfy 
plain that the history of the American Episcopal Church 
does not warrant us to conclude that many of its pecu- 
liarities might advantageously be adopted among 
ourselves. True it is that the lay element has worked 
well in the councils of our sister-church ; but the reader 
has seen, on the authority of Bishop White himself, 
that it was introduced simply as " a substitute for the 
parliamentary sanction to legislative acts of power." 
Our laity are represented in the Houses of Parliament, 
on the throne and in the councils of the sovereign, and 
so long as the faithful members of the Church are 
satisfied with this representation, a lay element in 
church councils seems to be unnecessary. But if ever 
it should appear that our legislators, as a body, have 
ceased to regard the real good of the Church, and that, 
like an American Congress, they no longer acknow- 
ledge in religion any difference between truth and 
error, the arguments which prevailed with the restorers 
of the American Church will undoubtedly be admitted 
to have their weight in England. Even now the ad- 
vantages of lay co-operation are more and more admitted 



Comparisons. 295 



by our clergy, and in several of our dioceses mixed 
assemblies are regularly held for the discussion of the 
more secular points of ecclesiastical business. 

The free election of the bishops in America, un- 
questionably, has much to recommend it, and it cannot 
be doubted that it is well suited to the habits of the 
people and agreeable to the practice of primitive times. 
But while our English dioceses continue to embrace so 
large a number of parishes as they do at present, a 
popular election by the clergy and laity would lead to 
numberless inconveniences, and would probably fail to 
secure the appointment of the most eligible candidate. 
When the real interests of our dioceses are, on the 
whole, carefully considered, the present mode of nomi- 
nation in England, with all its anomalies, has advan- 
tages in practice which perhaps too many of us are apt 
to overlook. 

The history of Liturgical Eevision in America affords 
salutary cautions to which the attention of the reader 
has been already directed. It would be unreasonable 
to assert that our Prayer-book is not susceptible of im- 
provement, and the time may be approaching when 
the subject of revision can be discussed with advan- 
tage by our revived convocations. Some of the altera- 
tions in the American Prayer-book might well be 
admitted among ourselves, if introduced on sufficient 
authority, and with a reasonable prospect of removing 
difficulties from the path of Christian people. Let us 
hope, however, that, instead of lowering our theory to 

u 4 



zg6 Conclusion. 



the level of defective practice, we shall be enabled to 
raise our practice, where defective, to the height of our 
truly primitive theory. 

In regard to finance, we have seen that the principle 
of endowments has never been rejected in America, and 
that, in fact, the Church is protected by law in the 
possession of considerable endowments, the value and 
number of which are constantly increasing. We have 
seen that the " voluntary system " was not adopted from 
choice, but from the urgent necessities of the case, 
and that its operation has been in some respects far 
from satisfactory. The want of a better system has 
occasioned those heavy charges on pews which have 
been undoubtedly most prejudicial to the religious 
interests of the poorer classes. Then it must be recol- 
lected that the usefulness of ministers of religion is 
closely connected with their personal independence. 
"Among the trials painful to our nature," the late 
venerable Bishop Griswold (of Massachusetts) enume- 
rates the being "constrained to reprove and rebuke 
those on whom we depend for our daily bread." * If 
this trial is painfully felt in America, how much more 
injurious would be its effects upon the clergy of 
England ! A sense of constant dependence may indeed 
be a check upon gross irregularities, but it certainly 
tends to obstruct the development of the higher vir- 
tues of the clerical character. At present the endow- 



* Discourses, p. I. 



Our Advantages. 29 7 

ments of the Church of England are sufficient, in 
general, to encourage the minister of a parish, with the 
help of his private means, to maintain an independent 
position, to speak the truth without fear, and to act as 
a father to the poor people committed to his charge. 
Our American visitors are always deeply impressed with 
this feature of our system, so different from their own. 
With admiration they perceive that our rectories and 
vicarages are so many centres from which temporal no 
less than spiritual good flows forth abundantly among the 
surrounding population. They recognise in the village 
pastor, with his schools, his charities, and his general 
influence, something more than the mere preacher, and 
to the stability of his position they trace the interest 
which he evidently feels in the permanent welfare of 
his flock. An American Presbyterian minister, the late 
Eev. Mr. Mines, was converted to the Church by what 
he saw of parish work on a visit to this country.* " I 
saw," he wrote, " the happiest combination of qualities 
in those individuals who had been moulded under the 
lofty and ennobling influences of the Church. I became 
acquainted with numbers of persons whose simplicity, 
and fervour, and single-mindedness, introduced me to a 
religion which I had not supposed to exist on earth. I 
saw a piety without cant, which I had never seen before ; 
a zeal without noise ; a charity without show ; a cha- 
racter, in short, so formed by the precepts of the Blessed 

* America and the American Church, 2nd edition, chap, xi. 



2,g8 Conclusion. 



Master, that I could not but feel that here was indeed 
the Church of God." 

It is quite conceivable that through the combined 
influence of the successors of the Puritans, the Ko- 
manists, and those who deny all revelation, a state of 
things may be produced in England not unlike that 
which has for some time existed in America. Division 
may be encouraged by our legislature until all religions 
come to be regarded as equal, irrespectively of their 
several tendencies and of the essential difference be- 
tween truth and error. Eeligious education in our 
schools may be denounced and forbidden, the churches 
may be treated as national property, the clergy may be 
irritated and discouraged by annoying enactments, and 
finally Church property may be swept away in England 
as it was in Virginia. Even in these extreme circum- 
stances, the example of our American brethren teaches 
us that the Church need not utterly despair. She might 
again rise on new foundations, and, though despoiled of 
much that is valuable, might succeed in maintaining an 
honourable position among the conflicting sects with 
which in public estimation she would be identified. 
But, on the other hand, we may reasonably indulge in 
better anticipations for our country and our Church. 
We may hope that the destructive career of democracy 
in a kindred nation will act as a warning to our poli- 
ticians at home, and that Englishmen will be encou- 
raged to maintain their ancient institutions in their in- 
tegrity. At the same time we may trust that there 



Anticipations. 2,99 



will be a general disposition on the part of churchmen 
to remove any abuses which may still remain in our 
system, and to clear away all unnecessary obstacles 
which may impede the return of separatists to our 
communion. 

As to our kinsmen in America, we have no reason to 
regard their case as by any means hopeless. No doubt 
they must look forward to political convulsions, extend- 
ing over many successive years. But our own country 
has not attained her present position without passing- 
through the ordeal of civil wars and revolutions. It may 
be necessary that America should undergo a similar 
course of trial before her politics or her religion can 
acquire that consistency and permanency which are 
necessary to a great nation. 

The Church in America will lose nothing by the 
present contest, and probably will gain much. She has 
taken no part in the fanatical and hot-headed schemes 
of either party, and when calm reflection shall have 
succeeded to passion, she will find her reward in a more 
general appreciation on the part of the people. The 
General Convention may well admit of subdivision, and 
as in England we have the Convocations of York and 
Canterbury, so in America there may be provincial 
synods of the North and South, and, if necessary, of 
the East and the West. The diocesan unity will still 
remain unimpaired, and among the bishops the same 
good understanding which previously existed will un- 
questionably continue. Even though the political union 



300 Conclusion. 



should utterly perish, the union of the Church will still 
remain. She will be a bond of peace not only for 
Americans, but for the children of our Eeformation 
wherever dispersed throughout the world, 



APPENDIX. 



INCREASE OF THE CLERGY COMPARED WITH THE 
INCREASE OF THE POPULATION. 

BY THE BEV. DE. CHAPIN, OF GLASTONBTJBY, CONNECTICUT, 



A.D. 


Population of 
United States. 


Time required for 

doubling in the 

same ratio. 


Clergy. 


Time required for 

doubling iu the 

same ratio. 


1790 


3,929,328 




190 




1800 


5,309,758 


28-4 


210 


95-0 


1810 


7,239,903 


27-5 


218 


262-0 


1820 


9,638,166 


31-0 


331 


19-5 


1830 


12,858,670 


29-9 


534 


16-3 


1840 


17,063,353 


30-5 


1026 


10-8 


1850 


23,263,498 


27-5 


1632 


16-9 


1860 


31,429,891 


28-4 


2250 


26-4 



From the above table it appears that since 1810 the increase of the 
clergy has been far more rapid than that of the people. 



TABULAR VIEW, No. L— ABSTRACT OF 

From the Journal of the 











Clergy Canoni- 


ORDINA- 


Clerical 




Dioceses. 


Bishops. 




6 

.o 


cally resident. 


TIONS. 


Changes. 


















'■d 










1 

•3 


5 

8 


o 

5 


1 


a 

O 

? 
Q 


"3 

o 


a 

o 

1 


•5 




1 
g 


•g 
P 


s 



P. 

BO 




Maine 


George Burgess, D.D. 




3 




17 


1 


19 


3 


5 


4 


9 




New Hampshir 


Carlton Chase, D.D. . 








14 




15 


1 


1 


3 


1 








Vermont . 


John H. Hopkins, D.D. 


. 16 


3 




25 


2 


28 


6 


5 


6 


5 








Massachusetts . 


Manton Eastburn, D.D. 




9 




77 


2 


83 


7 


12 






5 






Rhode Island . 


Thomas M. Clark, D.D. 


7 


7 




26 


4 


31 


7 


3 


7 


12 








Connecticut 


fT. C. Brownell, D.D. 1 
\J. Williams, DD. / 




25 


2 


118 


11 


131 


28 


28 


17 


51 


e 






New York 


Horatio Potter, D.D. . 




55 


2 






532 


42 


20 


71 


69 


8 






W. New York . 


Wm. H. De Lancey, D.D. 




19 




126 


11 


138 


15 


10 


35 


27 


5 


1 




New Jersey 


W. H. Odenheimer, D.D. 




11 




87 


15 


103 


15 


8 


32 


23 


5 






Pennsylvania . 


f Alonzo Potter, D.D. 1 
^Samuel Bowman, D.D. J 




26 




168 


25 


195 


39 


30 


41 


40 


6 


2 




Delaware . 


Alfred Lee, D.D. 


1 


1 




14 


4 


19 


7 


4 


10 


9 


1 






Maryland 


W. K. Whittingham, D.D. 


27 


18 




148 


11 


159 


16 


15 


36 


53 


6 






Virginia . 


/Wm. Meade, D.D. \ 
(John Johns, D.D. / 




18 








113 


25 


19 






6 


5 




North Carolina 


Thomas C. Atkinson, D.D 


30 


11 




34 


12 


47 


9 


9 


14 


19 


2 


2 




South Carolina 


Thomas F. Davis, D.D. 




10 




68 


6 


75 


8 


4 


8 


10 


4 


2 




Georgia . 


Stephen Elliott, D.D. . 




4 




25 




26 


2 


2 


8 


5 








Florida . 


Francis H. Rutledge, D.D. 


6 


1 




7 




8 




1 


5 


2 


1 






Alabama . 


N. H. Cobbs, D.D. . 




8 




24 


5 


30 


5 


3 


6 


10 








Mississippi . 


Wm. M. Green, D.D. . 


1 


2 




29 


2 


32 


4 


2 


18 


21 


5 


1 




Louisiana 


Leonidas Polk, D.D. . 




2 




35 


2 


36 


4 


4 


14 


12 


1 






Texas 


Alexander Gregg, D.D. 


2 


2 




12 




13 


2 


1 


5 


4 


2 






Tenner 


Jas. H. Otey, D.D. 




6 




24 


2 


27 


4 




7 


5 


2 






Kentucky 


Benj. B. Smith, D.D. . 


5 


6 








32 


4 


5 


8 


10 




2 






/C. P. Mc Ilvaine, D.D. ) 
\G. T. Bedell, D.D. / 




15 




77 


5 


84 


14 


8 


21 


26 


2 


2 




Ohio . 




























Indiana . 


Geo. Upfold, D.D. . 




3 




24 


4 


29 


5 


6 


11 


11 


2 






Illinois 


H. J. Whitehouse, D.D. 


12 


5 




58 


2 


61 


4 


6 


58 


24 


3 






Missouri . 


Cicero S. Hawks, D.D. 


4 


5 




25 


2 


28 


1 


3 


10 


6 


1 






Kansas . 






1 




10 


1 


11 


1 














Michigan . 


Saml. A. Mc Coskry, D.D. 


10 


3 


1 


44 


4 


49 


6 


4 


13 


8 


5 






Wisconsin 


Jackson Kemper, D.D. 




9 




44 


1 


46 


10 


10 


12 


8 


1 






Iowa 


Henry W. Lee, D.D. . 












32 


5 


7 


9 


5 




1 




Minnesota 


Henry B. Whipple, D.D. . 




2 




19 


2 


22 
















California 


Wm. I. Kip, D.D. 




3 




10 


2 


13 


4 


3 












121 


291 


37 


1387 


136 


2065 


301 


238 


169 


445 


75 


16 



DIOCESAN REPORTS AND EPISCOPAL ACTS. 

General Convention for 1859. 









Church Edifices. 














Sunday 


















Baptisms. 








Schnnls 




i 
'I 


5s 

c 


p 






a 










•2 

c 




















Pn 


| 
a 

o 

C 
3 


a 

a 
c 

"3 


a 

2 
33 


s 
o 

1 

p* 


.2 

a 

a 

o 


a 
a 


■a 
< 


a 

Eh 


to 

V 

a 

M 


s 
m 


'c 

i 

£ 



o 


Eh 






i 

2 


IT 




17 


6,700 




555 


769 


273 


1,042 


180 


412 


1,442 


192 


1,308 




1 


14 


1 


14 




2 


252 


286 


92 


578 


71 


141 


726 


59 


482 




S 


5S 


1 


51 


4,000 


5 


569 


415 


245 


656 


176 


527 


1,998 




1,551 




8 


71 


3 








2,163 


3,711 


559 


4,270 


1,185 


2,181 


7,780 




5,721 




1 


30 


5 


30 


11,600 


6 


899 


893 


420 


1,515 


425 


772 


3,142 


352 


2,665 




5 


118 


7 


115 






2,924 


3,261 


965 


4,224 


1,195 


2,892 


11,575 


1,229 


7,577 




9 


281 


17 








8,769 


15,061 


2,273 


17,354 


4,516 


7,127 


24,491 


2,450 


24,268 




9 


150 


5 


13C 




55 


2,063 


4,058 


1,209 


5,247 


1,295 


2,222 


10,854 


1,221 


8,775 






85 


5 








1,756 


2,864 


625 


3,489 


558 


1,486 


5,000 


504 


4,410 




25 


201 


•21 


17 2 




44 


4,834 


8,803 


1,554 


10,357 


2,502 


4,467 


14,106 


2,059 


19,753 




1 


25 


4 


27 


7,200 


4 


535 


824 


119 


945 


191 


409 


992 


277 


2,181 






126 


15 


172 


45,000 




5,076 


7,054 


541 


7,695 


1,717 


2,835 


10,580 










150 


13 


174 




50 


2,165 


5,029 


568 


3,597 


1,100 


2,019 


7,487 


892 


5,597 




4 


63 


6 


07 




18 


1,015 


1,680 


351 


2,031 


253 


652 


5,036 




1,294 




8 


70 


12 


75 




17 


1,942 


5,657 


1,088 


4,745 


667 


1,404 


5,672 


274 


2,245 




3 


27 


1 


25 




9 


482 


857 


216 


1,075 


227 


544 


1,998 


159 


1,526 




3 


15 


1 


10 




4 


185 


576 


58 


434 


72 


171 


650 


80 


600 




8 


37 


5 








581 


1,107 


250 


1,357 


254 


557 


1,675 


145 


950 




7 


35 


4 


21 




8 


528 


1,080 


378 


1,458 


522 


308 


1,400 


82 


568 




6 


42 


5 








737 


2,695 


291 


2,984 


751 


543 


1,667 


141 


1,455 




3 


24 




11 




1 


70 


584 


57 


421 


110 


91 


700 


90 


645 




3 


21 


2 


21 




3 


458 


886 


202 


1,088 


170 


312 


1,300 




755 




6 


55 


1 


29 


7,050 


3 


715 


1,070 


256 


1,526 


182 


515 


1,956 


501 


2,554 




6 


95 


6 


76 






1,143 


1,907 


455 


2,540 


781 


1,257 


5,680 


807 


5,751 






29 


2 


24 






589 


622 


152 


754 


187 


346 


1,192 


158 


1,056 




17 


96 


12 






13 


1,231 


1,939 


568 


2,507 


651 


812 


3,000 


516 


2,905 




6 


29 
17 


6 
3 


16 

4 


6,870 


6 


573 
50 


745 
50 


153 


50 


221 


360 


1,395 
160 


155 


916 




7 


49 


9 


40 


12,500 


5 


1,016 


1,066 


369 


1,455 


561 


666 


2,701 


542 


2,557 






51 


6 


48 


11,100 




1,039 


1,804 


590 


2,194 


412 


625 


2,500 


500 


2,000 




16 


36 


6 


22 


5,000 




425 


497 


116 


615 


124 


222 


1,488 


280 


1,198 






25 


10 


18 






216 


296 


84 


580 


64 


101 


597 


48 


474 






20 


3 


8 


2,400 


1 


288 


731 


78 


809 


505 


287 


755 


110 


859 


169 


■2120 


198 


1595 




254 


43,401 


74,555 


14,282 


89,289 


21,225 


37,021 


159,611 


14,019 


113,912 



s 

"3 
.0 

'I 

o 


1 

3 

3< 


05 


$16,520 59 

4,453 46 

21,727 92 

49,755 00 

38,257 15 

264,964 47 

1,066,588 14 

231,818 91 

134,331 88 

426,921 22 

78,005 87 

393,395 00 

192,221 89 

86,775 68 

115,573 00 

59,513 28 

abt. 20,000 00 

21,700 10 

88,944 75 

49,805 37 

44,280 00 

66,022 16 

96,869 43 

160,928 18 

46,652 58 

39,789 00 

75,340 50 

16,446 89 

9,863 00 
37,883 86 

23,519 18 


00 © 

©© 
°o©" 

OS,5(J 
CO - " 


■a 

1 


to 

00 


i>tooccot,ao NNOKioo'joaooooNoosN'Jtawffl 
?£ °i !5 92 2 "* *~< i -1 ioff)ot>HMO!»«95©H5acsoi<oeq(»oi» 

CO © r-^ cm q« •* ©^ HO^OWI^OJOOCDIOHONN lO OO-H^tBSONt- 

H"5g-* ©"-"SoTesT ■<* oo" nio co oo ecTrH ■* in in esf r-Tci <n"co tCco"ao -^" i-h 

"-• rH p-l CO O •* ■* © CO © CO © CO CO H CO CO ■* rH CXI in CO H © i-H CO CM 

HfS rH rH CO CO rH i-H i-H 






.5 « 


in in eo © m rH © f. m ©cm © m cm meM'Sunt^ i-h cm co co m t^ t~ co oo t» 

"* CM cm rH rH i-H rH rH CM rH rH CM rH CM rH CO rH in CO i-H rH CM CM CO rH © © 




Z'| 


S2i2S e 2S522! OCoooai, *' = "- 1 cmocmcoco cortoo-*Nt>esxa)ocit-. 

^^COinOOO^POCOOSt^OOCOCO © l-H rH © -* COt»OOMOOSMWOOI>fflCl 

■^l-H t-^'* r- CK CO CO CM rH OS OS in CMl-HCMCOCM -*-*©rH©<Nl>eO©eOrHin 

i-H r-ir^r^ rH r^ 


CM 

CM 

©" 

CM 


=5 

1 

s 
1 


oi 

00 


2SSSSS 10H **'2* l ®'>®C ; 100OMONOOt0O«OinH©Q0MOb. 
Sa^S2°^^ = ! 5coo,= Ciooo °COt^©eOr^©©©©eOOO©-©>©©©OOcO©© 
^t^OSt^ r~l "5^00 © i-H OS lO ■* © CD Ol® CO -"? !Ofc~ CO CS CO rH© CO t-^in •<? t- l-H O 
r^ i-H X> CO rH -3?© in •* ©"t^cOinrH t-^r^r^ rH iHiOrH CO rHCM" CM* rH 
rH CM i-H r-< r-l 


co 

rf 


to 


COrHOSt^©OSOS©CM©e0©l^inc0©lOi-Ht^rH©CMin'M00CO00CM'C<l©CO 

©COCMNCO00Tfi<SieOrHrH©'Mt^©eO'-<©eOCM©©©©in©©©£»©00 

os m os ©t^ co in cm co oo oo m in ■* © t- in ■* © iiiooo^cso eo© ojhioki 

rH CO* (^©"jcgos"-* cm" ©"©"esfiQi-H rHi-HrH rH ^"iHCM" rHrH i-T 


1 

in 
©" 

l-H 


CO 

s 

Pj 


i 

a 
< 


oi 

lO 


fe OT :S^c2©.>>.©eMiorH©©i.o,30i-Hioeot^©eo©ine^eo©o©©i-Hi>. oo 

CM CMin ■*©<MCM©mrH©meO*CM CMCOCM CM CM -^ i-H CO rH CO CO rH 
CM rH rn i-H 


© 

CM 


to 
1/5 

00 


2©tOCOlOt>N005«a>H'MOH O© ©©CM00©©rH© cm 
CO -># © CO © © ©t-.© rH © oq CO t~© !>•© -<? rH ©© CO (M fr- © CM 
t-< CM CM © ■* 00 CO ©„ © -* CO 00 CM^Jt ^ H H » H (N rH 
T-4 l-T 


9 

m 

©" 


45 


oi 

00 


SS Wr 1S2 r ; r-a) '*W'*ija5©i^i>cBi>©w*tooi>'Mcoio!CTi(j> m ctt 
S5SS^r H SS tD S2' :DO ' Nir5<N ooinint-«oo©oocoi--orsicO'?o©©coio© 

i^ CM ■<? £^00 CM^©^©^ 00^00 00 i-H ©^ CD00eOrH©©CO0C©©©©t^©CO-<T<.I> CM 
CO eOin^CM^oo" J>WiHW i-HrHtVf rHrH r-T rHrH 


CO 

in 
in 


to 


COlOMHUOHOOOO-^IMOOMHCOCO ©CM OO^OMO'NN'J © 
aOCOOS©*»<MOSCO©©CD^fc.rHt-. OH CO©©©CMr-t^rH in 

eo i-h cm in © t-^co^cM co©^ ©^co ©os nh cMm©-*iocMin© co 

CM CM CMCOCM 00 ©eMrHCM t-T r-T rH r* 


eo 

CD 

in 
m 


a 
6 


00 


in(M©co©-*©eo©-<jiin©mmcM6McOi-Hooi^©oomco©rHco©©moo©© 

inco©©©^i©©incocoi>.©i-H^icocooocMcOi>inr-H^oocoi^-HcocMoocO'H 

in CM in rH 00 © J>^ ©^i^OC^ CO ©^rH©©^ ■<* rH in lO t> -"tH^i-H^eO CM W ©©_-$< CM CM 
CM CM" co" CM" rH •<* CO CM rHrH r-T rH rHrH 


rH 

© 

4 


to 

00 


C0CM©©0000O0HflrHCM©i-H©-*cOt'-.©t^— l©mi-HCO'MHJI~3©-*^'M© 

t~eococococo.t~©!-HTjtt^--.©>©ior -^©m©©rHi-i©cocM©©eOi-H 

cm r HCM©^©^^cM i -*cM < cMinTfcoco i incMin^ m i-h cm m cm^co t^ eo -^ rP i-h i-h 

rH in" CM" rHeO CM"rH j-7 t-4 


© 
©" 

CO 


1! 

OS 


g 


COrH©l>t»00CMCOm©t>©m©00CM m-^^CM^ -^ -^ in-*rH ©O in-<* rH 1 rH 
CM -^1 i-H rH CO i— 1 CM rH r-f © 

1 CO 


S «0 rH © CO ©©©© i— CO i-H ©© in CM CM ©■* l-H CM CO CO © in Tp in 00 00 rH l-H »* 
00 CM ^ rH CM l-H CM i-H i-H m 
- 1 1 CM 


6 

5 


<-; | ©inoOeOrHi^cM:OeOeO©©e01^'0©CO©GM©e01>.CMT?©r-<00©©CMeOi-H<M 
S rH rH CM 00 CO CO eO CO ©© rH in rH tJUxm CO CO CO H CM CO 00 CM© 0Q -en >* CO rl rH IN 


in 
© 


to 


CO'*©t^CMCM©©©rH©£~rHin©CMt~CO!H<MeOrH T _tto-J(©eO©CO©© 
rH rH CM 1> CO CM © CM 00 © rH -^ i-H ijl t^ CM CM CO CO i-H CM CO 00 CM -* CM Tp ■>? CM rH 


on 

CM 

00 


Is 

'-So 


oi 

in 

00 


eo eo©-t^eo in © i-h © rH oo oo rH ©■>? rH oo eM cm cm ©© in eo m in co © eorncM 

CM in rH i-h tM rH rH rH i— 1 i-h 


© 

CM 


to 

1T5 


■^ rH cm © cm t- ©■<?■* oo eo © cm i> oo m -"S^eo -^ cm m -^ © eo (N cm eo 1 eo 

CMCOrHrHCMi-HrH r-t -*h 

1 IN 










o5 

3 




.l.|^ .1^.8... || ' 

U 41 H%1 lilll PlI'l A iplllll li ij 

g^^g^OlZi^^pMfig^^cVQOrTH^^rqH&HWOMrHSSFrHOWS 





Appendix. 



305 



No. III.— TABULAE VIEW. 



Increase in Fifteen Years. 

Total number pf Clergy reported . 

Candidates for Orders . 

Deacons ordained .... 

Churches consecrated 

Communicants .... 

Parishes reported: in 1853, in 22 Dioceses, 1150 

Dioceses 



In 1844. 

1,096 

203 

191 

143 

72,099 

24 



In 1859. 

2,065 

291 

301 

198 

139,611 

2,120 

33 



Summary and ComiKirative Views of Chief Items. 
1841. 



Clergy in 25 Dioceses . 

{Adults, in 14 Dioceses 
Infants, in 14 Dioceses 
Not specified, in 9 Dioceses 
Communicants added in 9 Dioceses . 
Total of Communicants in 25 Dioceses 
Marriages in 17 Dioceses 
Burials in 14 Dioceses 
Sunday-school Teachers in 10 Dioceses 
Sunday-school Pupils in 11 Dioceses 
Clergy deceased in 11 Dioceses 



4,729 

22,496 

7,240 



} 



.052 



34,465 

3,678 

55,427 
8,604 

14,961 
3,974 

32,265 
28 



1844. 

Clergy in 24 Dioceses (number in 3 Dioceses not reported) 



{Adults, in 19 Dioceses . 
Infants, in 19 Dioceses . 
Not specified, in 3 Dioceses 
Communicants added in 12 Dioceses 
Total of Communicants in 26 Dioceses 
Marriages in 17 Dioceses . » 

X 



7,807 -j 

30,254 I. 

1,058 J 



1,096 

. 39,119 

. 12,490 
. 72,099 
. 8,036 



3° 6 



Appendix, 



Burials in 17 Dioceses 
Sunday-school Teachers in 13 Dioceses 
Sunday-school Pupils in 14 Dioceses 
Clergy deceased in 8 Dioceses . 



14,330 

5,037 

40,012 

31 



1847. 



Clergy in 28 Dioceses 

{Adults, in 21 Dioceses . 
Infants, in 21 Dioceses . 
Not specified, in 7 Dioceses 
Communicants added in 11 Dioceses 
Total of Communicants in 27 Dioceses 
Marriages, in 19 Dioceses 
Burials in 19 Dioceses 
Sunday-school Teachers in 16 Dioceses 
Sunday-school Pupils in 18 Dioceses 
Clergy deceased in 15 Dioceses 



4,408 
23,551 

5,815 



} 



1,404 
33,774 

5,125 
67,550 

6,826 
12,814 

5,279 

39,437 

34 



1850. 



Clergy in 29 Dioceses 

{Adults, in 24 Dioceses . 
Infants, in 24 Dioceses . 
Not specified, in 4 Dioceses 
Communicants added in 8 Dioceses . 
Total Communicants in 28 Dioceses 
Marriages in 20 Dioceses 
Burials in 20 Dioceses . 
Sunday-school Teachers in 17 Dioceses 
Sunday-school Pupils in 19 Dioceses 
Clergy deceased in 16 Dioceses 



5,957 
33,072 



}■ 



1,558 
42,925 

4,987 
79,802 

3,420 
16,233 

4,520 

38,603 

43 



1853. 



Clergy in 30 Dioceses 

{Infants, in 24 Dioceses . 
Adults, in 24 Dioceses . 
Not specified, in 4 Dioceses 
Communicants added in 11 Dioceses 
Total Communicants in 30 Dioceses 
Marriages in 24 Dioceses ' 



39,565 
6,531 
2,061. 



1,651 

48,157 

8,802 

105,136 

12,974 



Appendix. 



3°7 



Funerals in 24 Dioceses . 
Sunday-school Teachers in 18 Dioceses 
Sunday-school Scholars in 22 Dioceses 
Clergy deceased in 18 Dioceses 
Number of Churches in 7 Dioceses . 
Number of Parishes and Congregations 
Parsonages added in 5 Dioceses 
Number of Parsonages in 3 Dioceses 





. 23,558 


. 


. 5,531 


. 


. 62,376 


. 


42 


. 


454 


in 22 Dioceses 


. 1,150 


. 


34 


• 


84 



1856. 



Clergy in 31 Dioceses 

{Infants, in 26 Dioceses . 
Adults, in 26 Dioceses . 
Not specified, in 4 Dioceses 
Communicants in 31 Dioceses . 
Marriages in 30 Dioceses 
Funerals in 30 Dioceses . 
Sunday-school Teachers in 20 Dioceses 
Sunday-school Scholars in 25 Dioceses 
Clergy deceased in 22 Dioceses 
Number of Churches in 6 Dioceses . 
Number of Parishes in 29 Dioceses . 
Number of Parsonages in 7 Dioceses 



56,132 
9,542 
4,853 



1,828 

70,527 

119,540 

21,334 

36,925 

9,235 

82,014 

58 

335 

1,825 

109 



1859. 

Clergy in 33 Dioceses 

. r Infants, in 33 Dioceses . 
\ Adults, in 33 Dioceses . 
Communicants in 33 Dioceses . 
Marriages in 32 Dioceses 
Burials in 32 Dioceses . 
Sunday-school Teachers in 27 Dioceses 
Sunday-school Scholars in 31 Dioceses 
Clergy deceased in 22 Dioceses 
Number of Churches in 27 Dioceses 
Number of Parishes in 33 Dioceses . 
Number of Parsonages in 19 Dioceses 



74,5531 
14,729/ 



2,065 

89,282 

139,611 

21,225 

37,021 

14,019 

113,912 

75 

1,395 

2,120 

254 



S 2 



3 o8 



Appendix. 



The following statement respecting forty-one of the Episcopal Churches 
in the City of New York (taken from the "Church Journal") 
will give some idea of the efficiency of the Church in that great 
metropolis in the year 1860. 



Church. 


Bap- 


Confir- 


Commu- 


Charitable 




tisms. 


mations. 


nicants. 


Contributions. 


Advent . * . 


41 





115 


81,226 


All Angels .... 


54 


— 


16 


197 


All Saints . '• . 


32 


— 


150 


1,254 


Atonement .... 


30 


31 


100 


2,250 


Calvary .... 


51 


55 


701 


18,206 


Christ .... . . 


18 


— 


256 


6,023 


Christ Church Mission Chapel 


27 


— 


50 





Emmanuel .... 


— 


— , 


— 





Epiphany • . 


69 


22 


324 


413 


G-ood Shepherd . . . 


12 


— 


30 





Holy Apostles . . ' . 


165 


67 


420 


3,991 


Holy Comforter . - . 


19 


— 


45 





Holy Evangelists . ... 


33 


— 


137 


751 


Holy Innocents . 


46 


16 


115 


3,568 


Incarnation .... 


31 


27 


320 


20,886 


Incarnation Mission Chapel . 


44 


1 


40 





Intercession .... 


20 


— . 


89 


2,249 


Nativity . ■ . 


58 


12 


90 


616 


Our Saviour . - . . 


25 


— 


45 


150 


St. Andrew's . ... 


16 


— 


109 


1,633 


St. Ann's for Deaf Mutes 


48 


30 


141 


13,755 


St. Clement's .... 


32 


21 


150 


1,389 


St. Esprit .... 


30 


14 


220 


10 


St. George's . 


154 


109 


1097 


34,767 


St. George the Martyr . 


11 


— 


77 


— 


St. James's .... 


22 


— 


139 


1,364 


St. John the Baptist 


29 


17 


140 


2,022 


St. John the Evangelist . 


87 


46 


300 


5,103 


St. Luke's .... 


96 


34 


275 


3,709 


St. Mark's . 


26 


25 


240 


8,111 


St. Mark's Mission Chapel 


4 


8 


62 


409 


St. Michael's . . . 


29 


7 


29 


1,255 


St. Peter's ... 


162 


— 


560 


12,380 


St. Philip's . . . 


10 


— 


— 


99 


St. Stephen's .... 


26 


— 


159 


— 


St. Thomas's . . , . . . 


38 


26 


300 


4,011 


St. Thomas's Free Chapel . . 


82 


21 


92 


620 


St. Timothy's . . 


65 


31 


106 


5,735 


Transfiguration . . 


53 


43 


250 


5,986 


Trinity 


435 


245 


1253 


24,737 


Zion ..... 
Or ... 


42 


32 


215 


3,073 


2272 


940 


8957 


8191,960 




• 


£38,392 



Appendix. 309 



No reports were received from the following Churches : — 
Annunciation, Ascension, Grace, Holy Communion, Holy 
Martyrs', Messiah, Eedeemer, Kedemption, St. Barnabas, St. 
Bartholomew's, St. Cornelius', St. Jude's, St. Mary's, St. 
Matthew's, St. Sauveur's, and St. Simon's — 16. 

The parochial report of Trinity Church, New York, to the 
Diocesan Convention of 1860, furnishes the materials for the 
following interesting summary : — 

Baptisms (adults, 65 ; infants, 362 ; not specified, 8) . 435 

Confirmed 245 

Communicants, present number 1253 

Sunday-school Teachers 209 

Sunday scholars 2405 

Special contributions of the Vestry of Trinity Church : — 
Salary of the Provisional Bishop .... $2000 

Diocesan Missionary Committee 600 

Diocesan Fund 390 

General Board of Missions ..... 250 

Communion Fund for the Poor 2000 

,, „ „ „ at Trinity Church . 600 
Christmas and St. Barnabas' Day Celebrations . . 1000 
Parish School of St. Paul's Chapel .... 1000 
Lay visitor to Emigrants at Castle G-arden . . . 600 

Lay visitors at Trinity Church 450 

Lay assistance at St. Paul's Chapel . . . .500 
Lay assistance at St. John's Chapel . . . . 360 

Total . 89750 
Contributions and collections in the several Churches and 
Chapels of the parish : — 

Trinity Church ■. . . . . 82,633 

St. Paul's Chapel ....... 5,225 

St. John's Chapel . . . . . . . 2,252 

Trinity Chapel 4,460 

Total $14,570 
Contributions of Vestry, as above .... 9,750 
Contributions specially appropriated by the Beetor . 416 

Total contributions of the Parish . . 324,736 

£4,947 



3io 



Appendix, 



It will be seen that the communicants at Trinity Church 
amount to 1253, and at St. George's to 1097. The rector of 
St. George's gives the statistics of his Sunday-school as 
follows, for 1860. 

Teachers. Scholars. 

At the Parish Church 64 1115 

Weekly Sewing-school . . . .18 220 



Mission English Sunday-school 
„ German „ „ 

„ Weekly Sewing-school 



82 


1335 


34 


516 


9 


140 


18 


130 


61 


786 



Grand total of teachers and scholars 



2264 



The charitable contributions of the same parish for 1860 
are stated as follows, the amount being equal to nearly 8000Z. 

Bible Society ........ 81,721 

Foreign Missions . . . . * . . 9,078 

Domestic Missions 3,275 

Sunday-school offerings for St. George's Mission Chapel 4,224 
Contributions from the congregation for Mission Chapel 3,467 



Collection for the expenses of Sunday school 

Anderson's fund for ditto 

Diocesan Missions and Episcopal Fund 

Evangelical Knowledge Society 

Seamen's Mission .... 

American Tract Society . 

Alexandria Seminary . 

Kenyon College .... 

Education of Young Men for the Ministry 

Aged and Infirm Clergy . 

Communion Alms .... 

General purposes .... 

Dorcas Society . 



575 
270 

514 
2,367 

264 
3,000 

450 
2,882 

700 

259 
2,043 
2,894 

786 



And some other sums, bringing up the whole to the 

total amount of $539,769 



Appendix. 



3" 



CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The following official table, just published, shows the population of 
the United States and Territories, according to the Seventh Census 
(1850), and the Eighth Census (1860), respectively : — 



States. 


Census of 1850 




( 


Census of 1860. 


Free. 


Slave. 


Total. 


Free. 


Slave. 


Total. 


Alabama . . . 


428,779 


342,844 


771,623 


529,164 


435,132 


964,296 


Arkansas . . . 


162,797 


47,100 


209,897 


324,323 


111,104 


435,427 


California . . . 


92,597 


— 


92,597 


380,015 


— 


480,015 


Connecticut . . 


370,792 


— 


370,792 


460,151 


— 


460,151 


Delaware . . . 


89,242 


2.290 


91,532 


110,420 


1,798 


112,218 


Florida .... 


48,135 


39,310 


87,445 


78,686 


61,753 


140,439 


Georgia . . . 


524,503 


381,682 


906,185 


595,097 


462,230 


1,057,327 


Illinois .... 


851,470 


— 


851,470 


1,711,753 


— 


1,711,753 


Indiana . . . 


988,416 


— 


988,416 


1,350,479 


— 


1,350,479 


Iowa 


192,214 


— 


192,214 


674,948 


— 


674,948 


Kansas , . . . 


— 


— 


— 


107,110 


— 


107,110 


Kentucky . . . 


771,424 


210,981 


982,405 


930,223 


225,490 


1,135,713 


Louisiana . . . 


272,953 


244,809 


517,762 


376,913 


332,520 


709,433 


Maine .... 


583,169 


— 


583,169 


628,276 


— 


628,276 


Maryland . . . 


492,666 


90,368 


583,034 


599,846 


87,188 


687,034 


Massachusetts . 


994,514 


— 


994,514 


1,231,065 


— 


1,231,065 


Mississippi . . 
Missouri . . . 


296,648 


309,878 


606,526 


354,699 


436,696 


791,395 


594,622 


87,422 


682,044 


1,058,352 


114,965 


1,173,317 


Michigan . . . 


397,654 


— 


397,654 


749,112 


— 


749,112 


Minnesota . . 


6,077 


— 


6,077 


162.022 


— 


162,022 


New Hampshire 


317,976 


— 


317,976 


326,072 


— 


326,072 


New Jersey . . 


489,319 


236 


489,555 


672,031 


— 


672,031 


New York . . 


3,097,394 


— 


3,097,394 


3,887,542 


— 


3,887,542 


North Carolina 


580,491 


288,548 


869,039 


661,586 


331,081 


992,667 


Ohio 


1,980,329 


— 


1,980,329 


5,339,599 


— 


2,339,599 


Oregon .... 


13,294 


— 


13,294 


52,464 


— 


52,464 


Pennsylvania . 


2,311,786 


— 


2,311,786 


2,906,470 


— 


2,906,370 


Rhode Island . 


147,545 


— 


147,545 


174,621 


— 


174,621 


South Carolina . 


283,523 


384,984 


668,507 


301,271 


402,541 


703,812 


Tennessee . . . 


763,258 


239,459 


1,002,717 


834,063 


275,784 


1,109,847 


Texas .... 


154,431 


58,161 


212,592 


420,651 


180,388 


601,039 


Virginia . . . 


949,133 


472,528 


1,421,661 


1,105,196 


490,887 


1,596,083 


Vermont . . . 


314,120 


— 


314,120 


315,116 


— 


315,116 


"Wisconsin. . . 


305,391 


— 


305,391 


775,873 


— 


775,873 


19,866,662 


3,200,600 


23,067,262 


27,185,109 


3,949,557 


31,134,666 


Territories:— 














Colorado . . . 


— 


— 


— 


34,197 


— 


34,197 


Dakotah . . . 


— 


— 


— 


4,839 


— 


4,839 


Nebraska . . . 


— 


— 


— 


28,832 


10 


28,842 


Nevada. . . . 


— 


— 


— 


6,857 


— 


6,857 


New Mexico . . 


61,547 


— 


61,547 


93,517 


24 


93,541 


Utah 


11,354 


26 


11,380 


40,266 


29 


40,295 


"Washington . . 


— 


— 


— 


11,578 


— 


11,578 


District of Co- 














lumbia . . . 


48,000 


3,687 


51,687 


71,895 


3,181 


75,076 


19,987,563 


3,204,313 


23,191,876 


27,477,090 


3,952,601 


31,429,891 



THE END. 



LONDON 

PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. 

NEW-STREET SQUARE 






L 



■■■ELSE congress 



021 898 776 A 



